THE views of residents and property owners in South Bank are needed before plans for the area can go ahead.

Consultants were called in to look at ways of dealing with the high vacancy rate and falling values of older terraced housing.

Now residents' views are needed before any ideas are further developed.

Residents and property owners are being invited to attend two drop-in sessions this week to see was is proposed for the future of their neighbourhood.

Consultants Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners, a leading independent regeneration and planning consultancy have been appointed by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

They have already held workshops with local people and interviewed other agencies in the area to help the development of the South Bank Housing Renewal Plan.

Project manager Lisa Marshall said: "The two drop-ins are an important opportunity for residents to see how their views, together with the outcome of other consultations, have been put into a set of options for South Bank's future.

"At this stage, it is important to stress the options will be for general discussion only and a great deal of further work, alongside residents, will be needed to assess whether they can be funded and achieved."

The sessions are on Wednesday, at Golden Boy Green, in Normanby Road, and on Thursday, in Cromwell Road Primary School's dining hall, when Urdu and Bengali translators will also attend. Both sessions will be held from 2.30pm to 8pm.