AN engineering scheme to re-build sea defences at Hartlepool is forging ahead.

The £2.5m project involves improving a 420-metre stretch of sea wall and promenade near Newburn Bridge.

Hartlepool Borough Council is behind the scheme, the third and final phase of government-funded rock armour coastal defence works that began in the early 1990s.

Huge interlocking blocks of stone, which each weigh between one and three tonnes, have been installed to protect the coastline.

Alan Coulson, the council's engineering manager, said: "Work is progressing well and we have been helped by the fact we didn't get the really heavy seas that so often occur in the spring. We are on target to complete the works by November."

The current works link previous sea defence improvements and, when complete, could encourage more people to walk and cycle between Hartlepool Marina and Seaton Carew.