A FLOOD-HIT village is in line for £500,000 to improve coastal defences.

Skinningrove suffered in 2000 when 178 properties were affected by high water levels and many residents had to be evacuated. Heavy rainfall in 2002 showed there were still serious problems with the coastal defence system and consultants were brought in last February to prepare a report for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Cabinet members from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council will decide on Tuesday whether to apply for £507,205 from Defra towards the design and construction of additional coastal defences.

Tom Evans, an environmental worker for Skinningrove, said the money had been a long time coming.

"I hope the plans will also improve the look of the coast. We'd like it to look more like the defences at Runswick Bay," he said. "We feel safer from the river now, but this money will help save homes in the village in the future from high spring tides."

Consultancy company Mouchel Consulting Limited has suggested widening the channel and beck to aid the flow of water, re-grading the slopes and constructing a rock spur next to the car park to limit waves from the sea entering the beck.

It has not recommended shortening the fishtail groyne, a structure designed to prevent the shifting of sands on the beach, in spite of the benefits it could bring to fishermen, because it may have a detrimental effect on sea defences and hinder Defra funding.

Council chairman Eric Empson said: "I am confident that cabinet members will agree to apply for the funding from Defra and that we will receive funding.We have spent a lot of money on flood defences at Skinningrove since 2000 and I hope that we can again improve the situation."

Work could begin in September 2004 and be completed by January 2005, subject to Defra funding.