PEOPLE living on the outskirts of Redcar and Marske may have to put up with a terrible stench caused by upgrading work at a sewage plant.

For the past nine days, residents have been plagued by the smell from the sewage works at Marske.

As the weather improved over the Bank Holiday weekend, the smell got so bad people had to stay indoors, but even with their windows closed some say they could not escape the stench.

David Beeforth who lives in Redcar with his wife and six-month-old baby said: "The last nine days have been terrible.

"We don't want to leave our baby in the garden because of the smell, and we don't know if there any health risks. We are really worried. It's just getting worse every day.

"If this isn't sorted out there could be all kinds of implications like falling house prices. Who would want to live in a place that smells of raw sewage?

"We want to know what is going on but Northumbrian Water hasn't returned our calls."

Northumbrian Water, which own the works, conceded that there is a problem with the site, which is undergoing a multi-million redevelopment.

He said: "We are contracting a number of major improvement works at the sewage centre. There have been some teething problems caused by the work, but these should be sorted out in the next few weeks, if not sooner.

"We have had complaints and we apologise to people in the area for the smell. We are doing everything we can to rectify the problem."

The spokesman went on to stress there were no health risks posed by the smell.

The company is hoping the improvements will have environmental benefits for rivers, the sea and estuaries, as well as improving customer service and care.

Some sewage plants have suffered delays in removing slurry because of foot-and-mouth restrictions, which has caused a backlog and smell problems, but the spokesman said that was not the problem in Marske