A PLEDGE to preserve a unique pair of wartime pillboxes, used as look-out posts, has been given as plans are unveiled for a new footbridge in Marske.

Redcar and Cleveland council hopes to secure listed building status on the two pillboxes as tenders are sought for the new £360,000 bridge alongside Black's Bridge.

Delighted ward Coun Garth Houchen said: "I have been campaigning for a segregated bridge for eight years on road safety grounds and I am doubly pleased the pill boxes will be protected too."

The veteran councillor, describing himself as a recycled cyclist, added: "It is not easy getting across the bridge when other traffic is on it, especially big lorries. I am convinced residents will be thrilled that we have got progress at last.

"This development has an uncanny link with the needs of our past, having an historic value and all those years ago provided for our safety in an entirely different context."

The concrete pill boxes, either side of the Saltburn to Redcar rail bridge, were built in 1940 and, as a pair, are unique in North Yorkshire and Teesside.

Strategically sited on road and rail crossings as part of the coastal defence network, the Marske pill boxes were equipped with Lewis or Vickers machine guns and the soldiers were armed with anti-tank rifles and bren guns.

First to serve were the Argyle and Sutherland Regiment, succeeded in 1941 by the 12th Battalion of the Green Howards, then the South Staffordshire Regiment. The Battalion HQ was Kirkleatham Hall.

The council hopes to award the design and construction contract by the end of March and expects the bridge to be completed by September.