RESIDENTS of Redcar and Cleveland are missing out on the chance to quiz a police chief - because of a squabble between two politicians.

A war of words has broken out between Redcar and Cleveland Council leader David Walsh and Ken Walker, the former leader of Middlesbrough Council and current chairman of Cleveland Police Authority, over a series of missing letters.

Coun Walker claimed he received no response after writing twice to Redcar and Cleveland Council requesting an opportunity for the chief constable of Cleveland Police to address the authority on the force's progress.

Coun Walsh said he had written back twice agreeing to the request but had received no reply.

The row between the two Labour councillors means that people in the Redcar and Cleveland borough will not have the chance to put questions to police chief Barry Shaw at a council meeting - unlike residents of Hartlepool, Stockton and Middlesbrough.

Coun Walker told The Northern Echo: "I wrote to the two mayors and two council leaders on Teesside and got responses back from three out of four.

"Redcar and Cleveland Council did not respond. I have written now on two occasions."

Coun Walsh claimed he received only one letter from the police authority chairman.

"I have in fact written to Coun Walker not once but twice at Ladgate Lane police headquarters inviting him to our scrutiny panel that deals with community safety," he said. "There seems to be something very odd in the Ladgate Lane police offices postal system."

A Cleveland Police spokesman said it was up to councils to get back to the police authority in order for the meetings to be set up.

Councillors Walsh and Walker are well known for their public spats with one another.

Earlier this year, shadow transport minister Eric Pickles suggested they needed "their heads banging together" after failing to agree on a £24m bypass scheme.

They also locked horns over plans for a superstore on Middlesbrough's Middlehaven site.

Residents of Middlesbrough, Stockton and Hartlepool will get to question Mr Shaw at a series of meetings in the coming months. The first is in Middlesbrough next Wednesday.

Those attending will be able to ask questions on policing - but not about Operation Lancet or other controversies which dogged the force for five years.