AN UNLIKELY row has blown up on the Cleveland coast - over who has the dirtiest town.

Residents from Marske, Redcar and Saltburn have complained about the state of their streets and asked for more council cleaning.

The debate was sparked last week when resident Eric Henderson complained that Marske had become the poor relation of neighbour Saltburn.

Volunteers have come forward to help and, with backing from Marske Residents' Association and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, are to launch their own tidy-up campaign.

But the argument has spilled over into Redcar, which claims it is becoming the dirtiest in the area.

Resident Thomas Wild, of West Dyke Road, said: "The condition of some of the property on the sea front is a disgrace. The town centre is dirty and when you live on the estates you never see any street cleaners or sweepers."

Councillor David Walsh, leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, said: "We are aware of the dilapidated state of some of the properties on the Esplanade, but they are private properties and are not owned by the council. We have offered grants to the owners to renovate them, but they seem to be unwilling or uninterested in coming forward.

"We suffer from many of the problems many town centres suffer, with litter being dropped and by the time we have got to the end of the road we have to come back along again."

And residents of Saltburn claim everything in their garden isn't rosy. Hilda Booty, of The Crescent, said: "While the flowers and everything are lovely in the main part of Saltburn, if the tourists came around the back they would see a different picture. At one time the council's gardeners took care of our gardens, now they don't do anything."

Coun Walsh said: "We only have the funds available to help those who are disabled. Over the past 15 years we have had severe cuts in funding and we just have no cash to do the things like this that we would dearly love to do.