ON the day lifeguards returned to a beach where an eight-year-old boy drowned, a leading councillor warned the cost of the service was unsustainable.

Lifeguards will patrol the beaches at Seaton Carew, nearby Block Sands and the Headland Fish Sands, all near Hartlepool, from today.

The move follows an outcry to reinstate lifeguards after Jordan Moon, eight, drowned off Seaton Carew last August.

Independent councillor Stan Kaiser told The Northern Echo the annual £150,000 cost of reinstating the lifeguards, who were removed in 2001 to save money, could have been better spent.

He said: "There must be a question mark as to whether the lifeguards are essential and whether this money could have been better spent in other ways.

"There is a serious problem next year because we have a deficit of £2m and it seems likely that the lifeguard service will be one of the services cut. It does seem that there has been some misleading of the public, and they will get a shock next year."

More than 5,000 people petitioned Hartlepool Borough Council to reinstate the service after Jordan died. Four lifeguard supervisors and nine lifeguards will provide cover until the end of the summer holidays on September 5.

The authority has also invested £100,000 in equipment.

Hartlepool Mayor Stuart Drummond was adamant the service would be retained. He said: "There was a huge public will for this. It is not something we have done half-cocked, and this service will remain as long as I am here."

Jordan's mother, June Wharam, has regularly called for lifeguards to return and said they should also patrol North Beach.