EMERGENCY work to stabilise Loftus Bank embankment is forcing council bosses to close the road at the weekend.

A monitoring system, measuring 17 positions along the roadside, has shown a small section has dropped about ten inches over the past week.

Specialist contractors have been called in to carry out the remedial work and the programme is scheduled to last from midnight on Saturday to 6am on Monday.

An excavator with a 15-metre reach is being brought in for the work, which involves regrading part of the embankment along the A174.

A leaflet explaining the need for the road closure is being sent to 4,000 homes in Loftus and diversion signs, taking traffic on to the Moors Road, are also being put in place.

The road is already reduced to one carriageway, with traffic light control while an investigation is carried out for planned work next year.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's cabinet member for strategic planning, development and infrastructure, Councillor Eric Sempson, said: "We regret having to close the road for any length of time, but I'm afraid this is unavoidable.

"We are taking the best advice available and as a result of the monitoring system we have installed, we have detected a drop of about ten inches over the last week.

"To remedy that, we believe the quickest solution is to work over the weekend and avoid a peak-time closure.

"We accept it is going to cause a degree of inconvenience but hope that everyone will understand it is necessary."

Investigations are continuing into the causes of a landslip in July and a report on the findings is expected by the end of the year or early 2005.

The council says there is no link with £2.5m repairs carried out on the road three years ago.