AROUND 100 recycled Christmas trees have been planted in an effort to restore the “barren” and “depleted” part of a North-East beach.

Members of Friends of Redcar (FRED), Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's countryside rangers and local residents joined forces as part of The Coatham Dunes Restoration Project, in an effort to improve the appearance of the dunes.

Councillor Carl Quartermain, who is also the Chairman of FRED, said: “The use of Christmas trees to build up coastal dunes is not unique and is used successfully elsewhere in the world. Repeating this process over time will hopefully be effective.”

The call to ‘Save the Dunes’ surfaced over the past few years due to natural depletion, as well as anti-social behaviour including the use of quad bikes, littering, smashed glass, substance abuse and dog fouling.

According to Mr Quartermain, this has made the area unappealing and unsafe, and has exposed the dangerous jagged and broken masonry used to create the artificial section of the dunes.

Mr Quartermain said that through Facebook and Twitter, as well as local media and radio, residents were asked to bring their Christmas trees to the Majuba Beach entrance.

The Facebook post alone was shared around 800 times, receiving many positive comments, and the request also resulted in more than 200 trees being delivered to the drop off point on Sunday.

As well as planting around 100 of the trees on the day, the volunteers and residents were able to do a litter pick at the same time, and have said that the remaining trees will planted over the coming fortnight.