CONTROVERSIAL plans to demolish Stockton's oldest bridge and replace it with a concrete one go before councillors next week.

Homes in the Lustrum Beck area have been affected several times by flooding, with 100 properties flooded and power supplies disrupted for a week in 2012.

A scheme to demolish and rebuild the 19th-century Londonderry Bridge and upgrade flood defences along the beck were given Environment Agency funding in 2014, with Stockton council agreeing to bankroll the bridge replacement.

Londonderry Bridge, on Durham Road in Stockton, carries traffic over Lustrum Beck and is safe - but the replacement is necessary to bolster flood defences and offer the "once in 75 years" protection for residents.

The scheme would help protect 162 homes in the Brown Bridge and Oxbridge areas. Work on the scheme is already underway - and plans for the bridge phase of the scheme go before Stockton council's planning committee on Wednesday, February 17.

More than 80 letters of objection have been lodged, raising concerns about the loss of the historic bridge, which was built in about 1830, and the new design.

The existing brick-arched bridge will be removed and replaced with a concrete one.

Stockton councillor Paul Baker called for a construction engineer's report on the bridge and said: "This bridge is the oldest bridge in Stockton-on-Tees and is named after Lord Londonderry. The landmark commonly known as Londonderry Bridge is built from stone in which his own home Wynyard Hall is built from.

"The two arches which have been bricked up, if these were restored to their original specification and the fourth arch was cleared of silt and rubbish, this bridge would operate for the capacity of water flow for which it is designed."

Other residents objected about heavy traffic on the diversion route while the bridge is closed affecting the shallow foundations of some of the Victorian houses on the route.

Durham Road is expected to be closed for about six months after work begins and the council is looking at changing the diversion route. The road is one of the area's busiest bus routes.

Stockton Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Transport, Councillor Nigel Cooke said: “We have listened to local residents’ concerns in relation to proposed bus diversions and have decided to take a step back so that we can carry out a further review of all options and suggestions made to see if there is a better alternative to the one initially proposed."