IT looks likely that ‘Welcome to Stockton’ signs in the Yarm area will be replaced by signs that say ‘Welcome to Yorkshire’ following a recent referendum.

And now the idea of the town of Eaglescliffe, on the north side of the Tees from Yarm, joining Durham County Council has been raised by a Stockton councillor.

The Yorkshire Ridings Society has offered to pay for the Yarm signs after Stockton council agreed to consider the suggestion from Louise Baldock, the Labour parliamentary candidate for Stockton South.

Jason Hadlow, a leading member of the Yarm Residents Association and former chairman of Yarm Town Council, has also asked for the old signs to be replaced.

Cllr Bob Cook, leader of Stockton Borough Council, Labour, said the authority was “happy to look at all options” in relation to the issue in Yarm.

However, Cllr Phil Dennis, a Conservative councillor for Eaglescliffe, on the Durham side of the Tees, said members of the public did not want Welcome to Stockton signs to be erected in his constituency.

In a letter to Cllr Cook seen by The Northern Echo, he said: “Stockton Borough Council must buck its ideas up regarding the south of Stockton before yet more resident clamour to leave Stockton and, in Eaglescliffe’s case, join Durham.”

Residents in south Stockton have been unhappy about the large number of housing developments approved by Stockton council in recent years.

The issue of the signs has been in the news following a referendum in Yarm last month in which nearly 90 per cent of those who voted said they wanted to leave Stockton Borough Council and join Hambleton and North Yorkshire councils.