The event, organised by Northumberland County Council, is on at Willowburn Sports and Leisure Centre in Alnwick next Friday, March 19.

To find out more call 01665 511331 or 01665 511270.

The grant scheme is part of the Government's response to Sir Michael Pitt's review of the 2007 floods.

Nationally, £2.6m was allocated to 34 schemes in areas at high risk of flooding, enabling 532 households to benefit from practical flood protection solutions, such as air bricks covers, storm porches, door guards and flood boards.

The Boundary Committee for England has this week published its final recommendations following an electoral review of Northumberland.

The exercise has been carried out at the request of the Electoral Commission, in order to ensure "electoral equality" following the restructuring of the county's local government in 2008.

Play England has praised Northumberland County Council for its effective community-led approach.

This has coincided with the announcement of the council's latest funding award of £441,000 towards the development of 13 play spaces for children in the county, as well as the establishment of a new partnership 'Northumberland Play'.

First-time buyers and those struggling to find a lender willing to help them will be able to turn to Northumberland County Council for help.

Councillors on the county's executive board will be asked to agree to the £3m deal next week. The money will come from council borrowing.

The council has agreed to peg the annual charge for the collection service at £20 this year, after a move to increase it by 25% was rejected by opposition councillors.

People who pay for the service get their grass, leaves, hedge and tree cuttings and other garden materials picked up from the kerbside every other week during the growing season. The waste is then converted into compost or soil improver.

Officers at Northumberland County Council said the rejection of the schemes would have implications for future applications in the area.

In a report to go before the council tomorrow, they also raise hopes the decision will force developers to acknowledge the need to protect the county's historic environment when shaping schemes.

The 11th-hour package of concessions by County Hall leaders enabled the unitary authority to finally agree its 2010/11 budget plans, with just four days to spare.

The agreement averted the risk of the council failing to set a legal budget in the required timescale, and the threat of Government-appointed commissioners being sent in to do the job.

Northumberland County Council unveiled its proposed budget for 2010/11 in November. As part of a consultation on the budget, public meetings were scheduled across the county for January.

However last month's snow meant two of the meetings, at Berwick and Cramlington, had to be cancelled.

Officials at the county council are working with consultants Strategic Leisure on the research, which is in response to Government guidance that local authorities should assess facilities and identify clear standards of provision for all recreational spaces.

It will involve a programme of consultation with partners and organisations such as Natural England, Sport England, sports development teams, grounds maintenance teams, schools and sports clubs.

The minority Liberal Democrat administration at County Hall will now have to come up with a revised package of proposals after its plans to make £21.5m in savings to balance the books failed to win the support of Conservative and Labour opponents.

Opposition councillors were accused of "political grandstanding" at a meeting of the full council in Morpeth, which had been called to approve this year's budget following months of detailed consultations.

A progress report on the review reveals hundreds of people have made their views known on whether parking fees should be imposed across the whole county - rather than just in selected towns.

More than 560 people have signed three separate petitions calling for an equal policy across the board, with charges being made in all principal towns.

Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell is writing to Liberal Democrat leaders at County Hall and asking them to "stop hitting" the elderly population of the county.

He says the recent announcement the council is axing a scheme which provides cut-price taxi travel for hundreds of pensioners who are unable to use buses is the latest in a damaging series of cost-cutting measures affecting older people.

It was feared that around £30m worth of savings would be required to balance next year's budget but the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has allowed councillors to pay for some costs from the capital budget.

The authority had submitted four bids for capitalisation in respect of potential losses on Icelandic investments of £9.1m, for £6m in strain on the pension fund, £2.8m for enhanced redundancy and £1.4m for statutory redundancy.

County council leaders expected to be told yesterday whether ministers will allow them to use a financial loophole to avoid having to make almost £30m in savings this year.

But last night - as the authority revealed it has dropped plans to close a number of tourist information centres in Northumberland - there had still been no decision from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).