RESIDENTS fear that a planned housing development could become a haven for drug addicts.

Angry residents have already held a meeting about the plan to build 22 two-storey self-contained flats at Wheatlands Farm Cottages, in Redcar Road, Redcar. Another meeting is expected to be held next week.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has received 154 letters of objection against the plans together with a petition of 49 signatures.

But officers at the council are recommending that it be approved, with seven conditions attached.

Locals believe the development would become a haven for drug and crime abuse and have complained that it looks like an institutional building which will devalue the prices of property.

But the applicant, Cleveland Housing Aid Trust, said it intends to offer the flats for outright sale or for sale on a shared equity and not for rent.

The trust's general manager Harold Eddy said: "They will be for people aged 45 or over and that will be a condition of the contracts people sign.

"It would not house asylum seekers, or what some people call DSS cases."

Ward councillor Mary Ovens, who is on the planning committee, said: "Ward members will be asking for a site visit and that will be the opportunity for residents to voice their opinions."

Councillors will consider the application at their meeting on Wednesday, at 10am.