A £250,000 package of improvements has been lined up in a bid to transform grassy areas on the Headland in Hartlepool.

The Gibb, Beaconsfield and Regent Squares will get a new look in resident-led projects.

People living around each of the squares formed special Friends groups to work closely with landscape architects and artists to design and plan the work.

All three projects are funded through the North Hartlepool Partnership.

Additional funding has come from English Heritage, which has given £43,000 towards the Regent Square improvements.

Work is under way in Gibb Square, where there will be new walls and railings around the square, and flower beds and shrubs planted in the middle.

Several car parking spaces will be created off Cleveland Street, to help ease parking congestion.

Work on the other two squares will start in the next few weeks, and all three are expected to be finished at the end of September.

In Beaconsfield Square, flowers and shrubs will be planted in the central grassed area, as well as a low natural stone wall built around the edge.

There will also be a stone plinth in the middle of the grass, featuring a bronze casting of a beacon design by artist Claudia Rankin.

Regent Square will have a similar stone plinth featuring artwork, although the design is still being developed.

Footpaths will be created around the central grassed area, flowers and shrubs planted and new footpaths laid in the street.

Peter Graves, townscape heritage initiative manager for the North Hartlepool Partnership, said: "These projects really seem to have captured the imagination of local people.

"Residents have put in a lot of hard work and enthusiasm and have played a key role in shaping these projects."