A WAR of words has broken out over a once-iconic Tees Valley building that a council wants to demolish.

In a strongly-worded statement, Stockton Borough Council said it condemned the owner of Billingham House, the derelict former ICI headquarters, for again preventing the authority from demolishing the building.

But owner Bizzy B Management hit back and said the council was preventing a major office development that could bring 1,000 jobs to the area.

The council said preparatory work for the demolition of the building, which has been empty for six years, began in September after a judicial review at the High Court ruled the council was legally entitled demolish the building. All costs were awarded to the council.

Bizzy B was refused permission to appeal, but has applied for a hearing, to be held in January, to reconsider its right to appeal.

A council spokesman said the company had allowed the once-proud building to fall into disrepair over several years.

Billingham ward councillor Mike Smith, the cabinet member for regeneration and transport, said: "We all want to see this blot on the landscape removed once and for all, and as quickly as possible.

But Bizzy B, who so far as I can see have shown no interest whatsoever in this area or its community, continue to challenge the legal rulings.

"The result is that local people will continue to have to live with this derelict and unsightly ruin for a while longer.

Quite how those in charge at Bizzy B can sleep easy at night knowing what the residents continue to endure is beyond me."

However, Girus Rabinovitch, an agent for Bizzy B, said his client's legal rights as a property owner had been wrongly eroded and that work improving the building could begin in weeks.

He said: "The council is like Big Brother. We would be able to regenerate the area, bring 1,000 jobs. What is the council offering to provide for the site? Nothing."

The council finally gained control of the site last year after a lengthy legal process, despite a last-minute development agreement being signed in November last year by Bizzy B and developer Python Properties. Python Properties has promised to invest millions of pounds in the building.