PERMISSION has been granted to create a £1m leisure attraction on the banks of the Tees which will include the UK's tallest rope course.

Stockton Borough Council’s planning committee today (Wednesday, February 25) approved the plan to create the 17m high course along with a climbing wall and new building by the Tees Barrage White Water centre.

That was despite serious objections from two leading councillors who claimed it would be an “eyesore” and that it was too close to highly contaminated land.

Last year the council’s powerful cabinet committee agreed to allocate money to create the rope way, which will be run by the council-supported Tees Active group.

It is hoped the leisure facility will generate a surplus of at least £100,000 per year whilst also increasing visitor numbers to the town. The £1m estimated cost is only estimated at this stage.

The structure will have four levels, with zip rails located at levels one and two, and there will be a 10m high climbing wall at the end. A new building will contain toilets and a ticket office.

The ropes course will involve a steel structure and users will be secured in a safety harness at all times. It will be primarily open in the spring and summer months when it will be open for five to six hours a day, but it is also expected to be open during the winter with reduced hours.

Ward councillor for the area, Paul Kirton, Labour, strongly objected to its construction, arguing it will be “an eyesore” and compared the structure to unsightly scaffolding. He said: “The idea is quite good, but it could be anywhere, an industrial estate or somewhere, or it could be hidden in the marshes...People will look to this planning committee and say, ‘look at that thing they’ve stuck right there, right in our face.’ It’s an eyesore.”

Cllr Mick Stoker, Labour, also raised concerns because that whole stretch of the Tees was once an industrial centre which included chemical works. He said: “When they cleared the land it was that toxic the old county council refused permission to remove the top soil from the site. The two big mounds of earth you see there is that topsoil. I would think twice about this.”

However most councillors were in favour of the plan in the hope it would help make Stockton a “destination town” and were assured the land was safe. Deputy leader of the council, Jim Beall, said: “I am sure councillor Kirton has a point, but I think we’ll be pleasantly surprised how it will blend in.”

Councillors overwhelmingly voted in favour of the scheme.