A PENSIONER has joined the call for a riverside development to be cleaned up.

Dorothy Fairhurst said when she moved into her flat in Rochester Court, on the Teesdale site in Thornaby, she was led to believe it was the most desirable place to be.

However, 15 years down the line, she said the development now belonged to several owners and no one wanted to take responsibility for sprucing up the area.

The 75-year-old has joined Durham University's Andy Elliott in calling for the prime location to be transformed into a place of tranquility.

He is about to approach every business on the site, along with British Waterways, in an attempt to get the area cleaned up.

Mr Elliott envisages a waterside cafe, street entertainers and even boathouses along the embankment - but enthusiasm and funding is needed.

Mrs Fairhurst said: "When I moved in, I thought it was going to be wonderful.

"There are so few of us residents and we have no services, and the bus service is terrible.

"I thought it was going to be a small community with amenities, but all we seem to get is new call centres. We don't even have any flowerbeds anywhere.

"I see tourists coming to the middle of the Millennium Bridge, but they look around and then go back. St Mark's Basin, which should be lovely, is in a terrible state."

The Northern Echo reported last week how Teesdale had been neglected, with old trees and rubbish strewn in St Mark's Basin, benches broken, lifebelts stolen and trees damaged.

British Waterways, which looks after the River Tees and some of the land, said it had carried out maintenance work as often as possible, and planned another clean-up of St Mark's Basin.

However, no one knows who owns much of the land.

Mr Elliott, the spokesman for Durham University's Queen's Campus, said he wanted to revive the "sleeping" Teesdale Forum.

He said: "We offer a first-class education to students from all over the world.

"We want our students to spread the news about what a nice place Stockton is.

"The vandalism and neglect on parts of Teesdale are creating a bad impression of the area - and a bad impression which our students will take home with them.

"Teesdale is our shop window. We need that shop window to be clean, attractive and welcoming."

Councillor Bob Cook, Stockton Borough Council's cabinet member for regeneration and transport, said: "We are trying to work with developers, to ensure that new developments make the most of the unique riverside setting which we have on Teesdale.

"We are also working with regeneration agencies and the British Waterways board, who are responsible for a large proportion of the riverside, to revitalise and use the potential that is there."