A PROTESTOR is about to prove he will go to any lengths to make his point.

Comedian Chris McGlade believes a planned multi-million pound housing and leisure development on the seafront of his home town is no laughing matter.

That is why the 40-year-old is walking 300 miles from Redcar to 10 Downing Street, to present a 9,000-name petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has agreed to a £55m Persimmon Homes development on the 35-acre Coatham Enclosure site at Redcar, east Cleveland.

Mr McGlade said the council could afford to improve leisure facilities on the seafront without selling land for housing. He has launched a bid to block the house building by applying for village green status for the site.

He said: "I have played everywhere, from workingmen's clubs to the Comedy Store Hollywood and London. But I always come back because this is my home; because the North-East to me is God's little garden.''

Mr McGlade was escorted by police from a council scrutiny meeting last October for continually heckling officials.

He said he was walking to Downing Street because the council was not listening to the campaigners' views.

"We want to show that our petition of 9,000 names is a true and honest petition, not a forgery,'' he said.

Senior councillor Vera Moody told The Northern Echo in an earlier interview: "There's no way this scheme - or anything close to it- can be achieved without big money from outside the council.

"We need private money to help us lever public funds from other agencies. Without that combination, it simply won't work."

Mr McGlade will set off on his trek after a brass band-led protest march through Redcar, on Saturday.