DURHAM City Council is backing a parliamentary bill that would give councils powers to support endangered facilities such as post offices and independent grocery stores.
The Liberal Democrat-run authority is giving its support to the Sustainable Communities Bill, which has backing from MPs of all parties, and has been proposed to tackle the problem of "ghost town Britain''.
Council cabinet member Carol Woods said: "This bill provides a bottom-up approach, and gives local councils like ours the ability to work locally to maintain communities.
"We must fight for greater power to help local people and their communities."
The council will urge local MPs to support the bill and sign an early-day motion on the issue.
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