PLANS for a new sewage system in east Cleveland have been criticised in the first stages.

Northumbrian Water is legally obliged to build a sewage treatment works in Skinningrove and has shortlisted ten possible sites to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, which will be asked to give planning permission for the project.

But the water company's preferred option has been slated by local East Cleveland Independent councillor Steve Kay.

The options for the works, which mean an end to raw sewage on the beach at Skinningrove, include a coastal site, land at Corus Skinningrove, and several other sites in east Cleveland.

Northumbrian Water says its preferred option is land to the west of the Corus plant because too many of the other options lie in heritage coast and special landscape areas or are on the wrong side of prevailing winds.

It says the plant could blend in with the industrial landscape of the Corus site.

But Coun Kay said that plan is "totally unacceptable" because it is too close to the village of Carlin How.

Councillor Helen McLuckie, chairman of the borough's planning committee, said the Brotton site was extremely visual and there was poor access and no infrastructure already in place. She said a meeting with planners will now take place at the Corus site so Northumbrian Water can explain its proposals.

A Northumbrian Water spokeswoman said: "We chose that site because it is big enough, it is away from the village, you can't actually see it from the village and the ground is contaminated because it is old Corus steel works ground."