ANGRY residents plan to protest against the loss of their homes during a visit to Teesside of a high-powered foreign financier.

Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon will welcome Dubai economics minister Mohamed Ali Alabbar to the town next month.

Mr Alabbar, who will also meet Prime Minister Tony Blair, will be shown the town's reclaimed dockland, now earmarked for a £500m redevelopment.

The 279 houses at St Hilda's, in Middlesbrough, 89 of which are empty, are to be demolished as the area is incorporated into the Middlehaven re-development.

Three hundred residents from the neighbourhood will be rehoused.

Heartbroken residents say they are angry that their houses will be pulled down.

Terry Dixon, who lives in the area, said: "We are going to be out there, to meet the sheik with placards and loud hailers. We are determined to make our presence felt.''

He has just received an £1,000 Government award for transforming the cleared site of a warehouse at St Hilda's into sports pitches.

Mr Dixon said youngsters who helped with the project cannot use the land because, as the area is to be redeveloped, Middlesbrough Council has stopped cutting the grass.

He said: "If these kids cannot play on the grassy area, they are going to go elsewhere and could get involved in anti-social behaviour, going against the whole meaning of the award."

Mr Dixon has refused to leave the estate and said he would live in a caravan when his home is bulldozed.

Mr Mallon said: "I'm not surprised that some people are unhappy at the prospect of having to move, but the fact is that developers are simply not interested in including the occupied houses of St Hildas in their plans.

"They want a clean sheet to work off and if they don't get it at Middlehaven they will simply take their plans and investment elsewhere in the country.

"It is unfortunate but it would appear that, in order to safeguard the future prosperity of the whole of Middlesbrough, these houses will have to be sacrificed."