FACED with a bill for thousands of pounds to repair sewers beneath her home – and unsure who to turn to for help – Jackie Blaney picked up the phone and called the Derby Telegraph.

She had just been told that, along with other home-owners in Allenton, she would have to foot an estimated £110,000 bill because an administrative error more than 30 years ago meant they were legally responsible for the pipes.

But after a three-year campaign by residents, backed by the Telegraph, calling for the charges to be dropped, residents of Wilkins Drive, Johnson Avenue, Slaney Close, Bemrose Road and Brindley Court finally won their battle earlier this month.

They received a letter from Derby City Council confirming they will not have to pay for repair work, which is now well under way.

Mrs Blaney said: "We needed help because doors kept closing on us at the council and Severn Trent.

"We felt if the Telegraph could bring the problem to light it may help open more doors.

"I am very glad that I called. We couldn't have got it sorted without the Telegraph – everyone there was a great help and it saved us a lot of money."

The success of the Derby Telegraph's It Stinks campaign was not the only good news story for the paper in recent months.

The strength of the Telegraph's Derby Bites Back campaign was recognised when it was nominated for Campaign of the Year at the Regional Press Awards, run by the Press Gazette.

Since Derby Bites Back launched in November 2008, hundreds of local businesses have been featured in the paper, giving them the opportunity to showcase their business to help boost trade.

Major organisations in the city put their weight behind it, including Marketing Derby, City Centre Management Derby, Cathedral Quarter BID Company, Westfield Derby, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce, the University of Derby and Derby City Partnership.

As a result, a hopper bus service was launched to encourage shoppers to visit stores that have suffered a drop in trade since the opening of Westfield.

It runs every 20 minutes, ferrying shoppers from Westfield to the Cathedral Quarter – where traders complained of a lack of custom since the shopping centre opened in November 2007.

Derby City Council also backed the campaign by providing free parking at its Chapel Street car park over the Christmas period.

Derby Bites Back followed on from an earlier campaign called Open For Business. It aimed to ensure that the city centre as a whole benefited from the shopping buzz created by the new Westfield centre and gave traders a platform to tell people of their unique products and excellent service.

Julie Ellis Wallford, owner of specialist lingerie shop Can Can in the Strand, said: "I think anything that promotes the Cathedral Quarter and businesses here is worthwhile. I got people making inquiries after seeing us in the paper – so well done the Telegraph."

A year earlier, in October 2007, the Telegraph was celebrating once again, following the success of its Hands Off Our Taxmen campaign, when a community united to keep hundreds of jobs in Derby after proving too much for Government Ministers to ignore.

In January 2007, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs was thinking of closing Derby's two tax offices and forcing 400 staff down the A52 to work in Nottingham.

But after the Derby Telegraph, councillors, MPs, businesses and unions stepped in, their combined strength contributed to a change of heart at HMRC.

Treasury Minister Jane Kennedy revealed that only St James' House would shut.

Now the Telegraph is hoping to have similar success with its latest campaign.

Called Change Track, it was launched in February after a Japanese firm was chosen ahead of city train-maker Bombardier for a £7.5bn contract.

It calls for the Department of Transport to award the Intercity Express Programme to Bombardier after it announced that the preferred bidder to design and build the new trains was Agility – headed by Japanese company Hitachi.

It was chosen ahead of the Express Rail Alliance, a consortium including Bombardier, the UK's last remaining passenger train manufacturer.

Graham Bennett, chairman of Derby City Growth, which was set up to promote the city, was one of the first people to get on board with the Change Track campaign.

He said: "The key to this is that Derby is the top hi-tech employer, there is a higher percentage of people employed in the hi-tech industry here than any other UK city.

"We need to safeguard Derby's position, not just for the people employed, but for the city as a whole.

"I think it was very good that the Derby Telegraph got behind this; it brought us together to sit round a table and discuss the situation.

"What is vital is the Telegraph's grasp of local knowledge and local issues and its experience with other campaigns like this one."

Bombardier, which employs 2,200 people in Litchurch Lane, needs to win new work or it will be forced to make redundancies.

The Change Track campaign puts forward a case for Bombardier.

If it was given the work, it would protect existing jobs and 10,000 more in the supply chain. The campaign can be followed at www.thisisderby shire.co.uk/changetrack