A PROJECT to redevelop a seaside district has been put on hold.

Plans to build a fish restaurant, bistro, shops and apartments on Hartlepool's Headland, have been drawn up by the borough council.

The project, for an area of land next to Kafiga Landings beside the Fish Quay, depends on the availability of Government money.

If the project became a reality, the council would find a private developer and, once built and up and running, the businesses would be sold to the private sector.

But the council's regeneration officers have put the project on hold while the future of a larger area of Victoria Harbour is decided.

Last year, multi-million pound proposals were unveiled to transform the Victoria Harbour area into a new shopping, residential, commercial and leisure complex. A planning application will be submitted by Tees Valley Regeneration later this year.

Stuart Green, Hartlepool Borough Council's assistant director for economic development, said: "It clearly makes sense for us to put the project temporarily on hold until we see how the detailed Victoria Harbour proposals develop and look at the best ways of fitting the restaurant idea into those.

"We could then market the fish restaurant plans to prospective private developers in the context of the wider Victoria Harbour development."