WORK is to be carried out on a derelict house in east Cleveland despite the owner's reluctance to sort it out.

Villagers in Skelton have complained to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council about the state of the property, in William Street, since 1995.

The council served a notice on the unnamed owner a year later, asking that a creeper, enveloping the roof, should be removed and a large hole in an outhouse wall be bricked up.

The owner was also asked to reinstate a rear kitchen window and a back yard door and remove rubbish from the yard.

He failed to comply and was prosecuted and fined £50.

He promised to do the work, but again failed to comply and was prosecuted again. He was found guilty in his absence, on October 17 last year, and fined £600.

The council has now decided to do the work itself and recover the costs at a later date.