We have to get the right balance between local and national action

David Miliband, South Shields MP

Joan Dixon, CCC spokesman, told BBC News Online: "We would like the government to look again at the programme. It is worth �385m over 10 years, but we are looking to expand that.

"We want to have more former coal sites included in the project, particularly those at out of the way places.

Better communications

"And we also would like to see better communications with some of the isolated mining areas.

"It is no good bringing in factories if they are only served by B roads and your nearest main services are 40 miles away."

She said north Nottinghamshire was one area which could benefit if the government was prepared to spend money linking the A1 and M1 nearby.

David Miliband, MP, is calling for local initiatives

The government has promised to assess the success of the programme and that of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, which aids community projects in ex-pit regions.

Money from the trust is used on things like providing debt counsellors and Citizens' Advice Bureaus.

Stephen Byers, Minister for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, is set to give his appraisal of the aid programmes at a coalfields conference early in 2002.

But South Shields MP David Miliband has called on coalfield communities to explore ways they can bring about "regeneration from within."

'Successful spirit'

He told BBC News Online: "It is time for the coalfield communities to become distinctive - not for being coalfield or ex-coalfield areas but for something new and not just something old.

"There are areas in which they can excel - in terms of public services, attracting new levels of investment, improving quality of life, tourism or leisure.

"We have got cities such as Leeds and Newcastle which have made themselves successful and we need that spirit to trickle down.

"We have to get the right balance between local and national action."