MILLIONS of pounds are expected to be spent on re-modelling a town's network of terraced streets.

Central Middlesbrough's decaying maze of terraced streets was built to house the workforce for Teesside's heavy industry during the Victorian era.

Of the 10,600 terraced homes in the town centre, 700 are empty. Many of the properties coming on to the market are ignored by first-time buyers but bought by absentee landlords and property speculators.

Levels of owner occupation are down by 50 per cent and still falling.

What is yet to be decided is how many of the houses will be demolished.

Tim White, the council's assistant chief executive for regeneration said in his report to Middlesbrough Council: "If current trends are allowed to proceed unchecked, the long-term future of much of the oldest terraced housing close to the town centre is thrown into doubt.

"There will be further abandonment, poor management and the lack of appropriate planned investment, leaving an increasingly vulnerable and disadvantaged population.

"These issues must be addressed by taking positive action, both to realign housing provision to the needs and demands of future residents, but also to direct investment and support to ensure that where possible the viable communities within exist- ing areas are allowed to flourish.

"A strategy must be devised that will strike the right balance between the two.''

What decisions are reached by Middlesbrough Council in the months ahead will affect the lives of at least 25,000 residents - the number of people living in the area.

Nine councils elsewhere in the country have received a £1.2bn allocation to carry out similar housing market renewal schemes.

The five local authority member Tees Valley missed out, but has an estimated 59,000 older houses are at risk.

Although Tees Valley has failed to secure the Government's allocation, the Government has been prompted to award £65m to address housing market renewal in the Tees Valley, West Yorkshire and West Cumbria.

Mr White said 25,000 residents who live in Middlesbrough's older housing areas suffer from higher than average levels of deprivation, such as low education attainment, poor health, high unemployment levels and high levels of crime.