Seven out of eight young people living in the North East's former coalfield areas say they will have to leave their home towns to find jobs.

The figures were revealed in a poll commissioned by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, which is calling for better support services in former mining communities.

Over half of young people also said they worried about being able to afford their own homes in the future.

The Trust described the findings as a "wake-up call" for agencies working among former coalmining communities.

We are currently losing jobs faster than we create them

Rob Crute, Easington Council

Rob Crute, lead cabinet member for regeneration at Easington Council, said the area was still suffering a decade after the last pit was closed.

He told BBC Radio Cleveland: "The risks, if we don't get what we need, are obvious. We will go back to where we came from.

"We are running fast to stand still. We are currently losing jobs faster than we create them.

"There is currently a review of local authority funding going on.

"We need to make sure that funding is based on deprivation and we need to use the index of multiple deprivation to put forward our case for increased revenue support

"If we don't get that then we are going to go further into the mire."

'Harsh legacy'

Paul Gauntlett, director of communications and fundraising, said: "The future of young people in the coalfields is a 'hidden' issue.

"Because most of Britain's coalmines closed in the 1980s and 1990s, many people consign the problem of mine closures to the past.

"In fact, the harsh legacy of those closures is very much in the here and now.

"This is all too evident in the fact that young people today see fewer opportunities in their local area compared to other regions."