RUST-COLOURED water is seeping into a stream from old mine workings - and staining a resort's reputation.

As much as three-quarters of a ton of iron sediment daily collects on the bed of a stream flowing through the seaside town of Saltburn.

There are no fish in the beck - Saltburn Gill - as the iron has smothered all insect life in the beck, which flows through a sensitive Site of Scientific Interest.

The staining is visible in Skelton Beck, in the town's Valley Gardens Park, and, says the Environment Agency, tourists have been among those voicing concern about its discharge on a bathing beach close to Saltburn Pier.

The polluted, but non-toxic, water enters Saltburn Gill, close to North Skelton ironstone mine, the last of 60 east Cleveland mines to close, in 1964. When the mine workings shut, the operators turned off the pumps and the water levels have been seeping back ever since.

Saltburn residents first noticed a problem in 1998.

To discuss the problem, a public meeting has been organised for Monday, October 24, at the Parish Council Room, Saltburn Leisure Centre, Saltburn, at 7pm.

A community action group aims to secure funding for a report which will outline options to address the problem.

People with fundraising expertise are invited to attend the meeting. Environment Agency officer Don Mason says public involvement will attract grants unavailable to either the agency or Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

Mr Mason said: "Action needs to be taken and we have been providing technical advice to the action group to see if there is a way forward.

"We will continue to work with the community and hopefully find a solution to this complex and age-old problem."

The action group is also working with Newcastle and Teesside Universities, Tees Valley Wildlife Trust and the Loftus Development Trust.

Mr Mason said: "What we want to do is find out whether the problem at Saltburn is possible to fix, to see what potentially can be done to reduce or possibly eliminate the iron polluting the stream. It's going to be quite an interesting technical exercise to see if it can actually be done.''