MILLIONS of pounds may soon be spent on knocking down and rebuilding part of a Redcar housing estate.

The redevelopment plans will include the building of 400 homes next to the Sixties Courts Estate.

The Roseberry Square shopping complex will be demolished and a library, youth and community centre, pub and shops built around it.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has wanted to improve conditions on the estate for many years. Last year 214 flats and maisonettes, which residents claim were inhabited mainly by squatters and drug users, were demolished. But people who in the area have mixed feelings about the new development.

Ian Wilde, who rents the butcher's shop in Roseberry Square, said: "I'm very pleased about the new development from my own point of view as I'll get one of the new shops they're building. But I don't understand why other areas near here are not being renovated when they're in a far worse condition than this square."

But the council said the decision was in the hands of the developers, who are working through a partnership arrangement between a housing association and three property developers.

Harold Henderson, of Roseberry Road, who has lived on the estate with his wife, Alma, for nearly 30 years, said: "We were delighted when they demolished the flats and maisonettes last year because it got rid of a lot of drug dens and we felt much safer. But we are disgusted by this new housing development because there will be no more green land left round here."

Lorraine Brooks, senior assistant at Roseberry Square library, said: "The new shopping centre and the community centre and library will be great for local residents and especially the pensioners who rely on this area because it's too far for them to go into town.

"Nobody can come here in the evening at the moment because it's just too dangerous. Hopefully these new plans will help the situation."

Residents were able to give their views on the planning application to council officers and representatives of the developers at the library yesterday.

Comment forms, available at the library, should be completed by Friday, July 18. The application is due to be considered by the council's planning committee in August or September.