THE sea wall at Redcar is likely to be rebuilt at a cost of £3.44m after talks with fishermen and lifeboat crews.

Because of objections, plans for an offshore breakwater, also approved last year by Redcar and Cleveland council, will not now go ahead.

Problems arose five years ago when storms washed away a metre of sand.

Marine scientists told the council that waves were set to crash on to Redcar's sands with increasing ferocity due to climate changes.

Disappearing sands are threatening to undermine slipways and could affect leisure use of the beach. But fishermen and lifeboat crews were worried about plans for a breakwater and in June they attended a meeting with contractors engaged to do the work.

Mr Dave Cammish, of Redcar Lifeboat, said the RNLI welcomed the decision to rebuild the sea wall. He said the RNLI had felt that a breakwater would create problems for fishermen as it would change the natural protection they got from three scars.

"We would welcome anything which protects Redcar from the sea, as long as it is not detrimental to those who earn a living from the sea," he said.

The main reason the breakwater was turned down was due to concerns raised by English Nature over wading birds which have made their home on the rocks. The breakwater would have destroyed that habitat.

The authority's technical services director, Mr Ralph Ferguson, told the council executive: "It was clear that construction of a breakwater would have created an unacceptable obstruction for fishing boats and the Redcar lifeboat."

The wall scheme will be paid for through the council's coastal protection capital budget, with some grant help. Experts say the scheme is the most simple and effective way to deal with the problem.