PLANS to build a multi-million pound racecourse in Redcar will go ahead despite funding problems, its creator has pledged.

Property developer Lord Zetland wants to build a racecourse on land at Dunsdale Farm, two miles outside Redcar. He had hoped that work on the development would already be under way, but admitted yesterday that he still needed to raise millions of pounds.

"I'm not going to give up," he said. "Once we have raised the funds I would estimate that the course will open four years later. It's a long-term project and if you are raising that sort of money it's not easy. We have gone through, I think, 25 different potential investors so far."

Lord Zetland, 64, intended to float his company, Seahorse, on the stock market but that fell through, delaying the project. Now he says he has lined up a Middle East investor.

The project - which will include a racecourse, theme park, casino, hotel and concert venue - is expected to cost between £100m and £150m.

The 537-acre site at Dunsdale will replace the existing racecourse, which has been operating since 1872, with that land probably being redeveloped as housing and park land.

Objectors to the new site have raised concerns that it could take business away from the town centre.

But Lord Zetland, a former chairman of Redcar Racecourse, said it would be a massive boost for the town. "My family have been in Redcar for something like 250 years. I'm not in the business of ruining the town, I'm in the business of making Redcar better."

Council leader David Walsh said he backed the scheme - as long as planning aspects were right.

"As it stands it's an exciting scheme. A racecourse should be more than a grass track. This could create jobs and put us on the map."