A RUN-DOWN Middlesbrough estate is to be revamped - with residents having the opportunity to shape its future.

People living in Grove Hill are being urged to get involved in a consultation exercise to help deliver the final plans for the area.

Boarded-up properties are now a common feature of some of Erimus Housing's 1,200 homes on the estate, which has experienced a rapid decline in recent years.

Despite previous multi-million pound investments to modernise properties, many people have moved away from the area and there is now a large number of empty properties.

But the housing group, which is the major landlord in Grove Hill, believes that with help from the remaining residents, the estate could once again become a popular place, where people want to live.

The organisation is inviting the estate's residents to give their views on the area, as well as how they think the neighbourhood could be improved in the future.

Chris Smith, director of regeneration for Erimus Housing, said: "We carried out a couple of drop-in sessions for local people in July last year and got some really good feedback as to what residents thought were the main issues on the estate.

"We have commissioned a team of consultants to work with us, and we are liaising closely with the council and community groups to seek their opinions.

"We now want to talk to as many residents as possible, on a one-to-one basis, to develop a plan for regenerating Grove Hill so that it becomes a popular and sustainable area for the future."

To help involve residents, the organisation has published a newsletter, advising them on what has happened so far. It will be delivered to all those living in the study area over the next couple of weeks.

The newsletter will be followed up with individual visits to homes by housing staff.

Ms Smith said: "We will hold a consultation event to feed back residents' views, once we have completed the interviews. We need the help of residents to plan the positive changes to their area. This will help us to establish options for the future of Grove Hill."