MORE than 20,000 rundown homes will be demolished or renovated across Tees Valley thanks to £18m in Government funding to breathe new life into struggling areas.

The package aims to rebuild the "fragile" housing market in parts of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton by sweeping away crumbling properties.

Tees Valley Living (TVL), the organisation set up by local authorities to drive forward the project, immediately promised the scheme would transform the areas.

But it admitted it faced a "delicate community relations issue" to win over some residents who may be reluctant to see their homes demolished.

There have already been protests in Gresham, Middlesbrough, over the plans to bulldoze 1,500 homes as part of the first stage of the housing market renewal project.

Homeowners also attacked the compensation package on offer to move them to older housing areas of the town, accusing the local authority of short-changing them.

Conservationists have attacked the plans to demolish up to 400,000 homes in eight so-called city-regions across the North, including the Tees Valley, prefering renovation.

Eddie Johnson, whose Middlesbrough home is on a demolition hit list, said the cash should instead be used to renovate.

"I doubt there is a soul against improving homes. If there is more money, then let's spend it on regeneration, and preserve the cultural attachment of these lovely old houses, not by smashing down rows of homes."

Under TVL's plans, nearly 8,000 properties will be cleared by 2016, to be replaced by 6,500 new homes, with a further 13,500 homes next to clearance areas renovated.

The scheme will focus on South Bank, near Redcar, Parkfield, in Stockton, and parts of Hartlepool, as well as Gresham.

The cash will be used to acquire doomed properties, design their replacements, construct community buildings and attract private-sector developers.

Neil Etherington, TVL's chairman, said: "The £18.25m cash allocation is a significant figure that will still certainly start to make a real impact.

"It is a clear demonstration that the Government has recognised the strong Tees Valley case, and just how critical housing renewal is to the future of our whole area."

A decision is to be reached within weeks on how to divide up the allocated cash between the four authorities involved.