PUBLIC SECTOR: Durham picks agency for regeneration

Durham County Council is set to appoint an agency as part of the final stage of its four-year coastal regeneration programme. The council is acting on behalf of a 14-member partnership, which has worked since 1997 on a pounds 10 million programme to repair the environmental damage caused by coal mining. The budget, to raise its regional and national profile and provide marketing and PR strategy, has to be finalised, but is understood to be just under six figures.