A NORTH-EAST MP who is demanding that a rotting ship is removed from the region has vowed to take his fight to the Secretary of State for Defence.

Frank Cook, MP for Stockton North, has been campaigning for months to have the former Navy minesweeper, TS Kellington, safely disposed of.

The vessel was sold to the Sea Cadets as a training ship by the Royal Navy for £2,000 ten years ago, and has been moored on the River Tees at Stockton ever since. But the ship has fallen into such a state of disrepair that it has been condemned as unsafe and is in danger of sinking.

Mr Cook called a meeting in Stockton yesterday to get all the interested parties together in an attempt to come up with a suitable solution to the problem.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), British Waterways, the Environment Agency and Stockton Borough Council.

Mr Cook said afterwards: "The good thing is we all agreed that something has to be done, and quickly.

"The bad news is they are all saying that they do not want to pay for it."

He added: "The problem is a result of MoD myopia. If the MoD had given the vessel to the Sea Cadets, it would have been negligent on their part. But they didn't - they charged them £2,000, knowing its limited shelf life and that it was a pig in a poke."

Mr Cook said the cost of safely disposing of TS Kellington, as it stands, had been estimated at about £250,000. But if it was left to sink, that figure was likely to more than double.

He said: "I am going to approach the Secretary of State for Defence, Des Brown, and Environment Secretary David Miliband to set aside some of their considerable resources to dispose of the vessel in an appropriate manner, and in a short timescale."

Councillor Bob Gibson, leader of the borough council, said: "I am disappointed and frustrated at the MoD's lack of commitment in assuming full responsibility for the safe removal of TS Kellington."