OPPOSITION members may complain to the district auditor over a council's plan to spend £10,000 promoting Yorkshire.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council dropped associations with the former Northumbria Tourist Board and joined forces with the Yorkshire Tourist Board in April.

Last year, the council voted to include Yorkshire as part of its address and to recognise the borough as part of Yorkshire for all cultural, ceremonial and sporting purposes.

Now, council officers are recommending that the authority should participate in the Yorkshire Festival and promote the council's affiliation to the County of Yorkshire through a series of cultural events and promotional activities, largely centred on Redcar.

But Labour opposition councillors say the money should be spent improving facilities for local residents and are considering referring the matter to the district auditor for investigation.

Labour councillor Mark Hannon said: "An awful lot of time and effort is being spent by Tees Valley regeneration officers, part-funded by this council, to promote the Tees Valley and the North-East to attract jobs and investment we need. This work is undermined by the cabinet wanting to import long-gone traditions from the Yorkshire and Humberside region.

"The only alleged Yorkshire tradition the coalition are really following is tight-fistedness - cutting the children's play provision programme, increasing costs of concessionary travel for pensioners and putting up council tax."

Labour leader Councillor George Dunning said: "We won't stand by and see people's money wasted when there are so many deserving alternatives in Redcar and Cleveland."

But Councillor Dave Fitzpatrick, cabinet member for culture, leisure and tourism, said the council had endeavoured to keep a foot in both the Tees Valley and Yorkshire camps and said that the move would benefit the area by bringing in more tourists.

"Shopkeepers, especially in Redcar, are complaining about a lack of business," he said. "It will give them a good injection of cash if we can promote the festival successfully.

"If we can bring in a few thousand more visitors to the area, the £10,000 will be a drop in the ocean."

Cabinet members will decide at their meeting at the town hall today whether to support participation in the Yorkshire Festival.