MORE than £100m could be spent on transforming a North-East town into "a traditional English seaside resort for the 21st Century".

The iconic centrepiece of the leisure-led scheme, produced by newly-formed charity, Red Carpet Development, would be a 100m tall revolving observation tower.

Developers say the structure, complete with white-knuckle ride, would be the only one of its kind in the UK and a winner with tourists and visitors.

A 25m swimming pool with sauna, a new dance hall, shops, cafes and bars would help revive the seaside community by bringing in more families, they believe.

An area of Coatham Common would become a wetland and wildlife sanctuary - the only part of the common to be encroached on.

Coatham Beach, as the project is called, would also see 150 apartments blended into the overall development.

The proposals were presented at a packed public consultation meeting at Redcar Bowl last night.

Developer Phillip Dayton, of Project Control Associates, which is working for Red Carpet, told residents: "We feel that to regenerate Redcar as a traditional English seaside resort, it has to be in the 21st Century.

"We also think it deserves and demands an iconic feature - something that will be synonymous with Redcar in the future."

Coatham Beach is being presented as an alternative to the controversial Persimmon housing development, which also proposes 359 houses across the entire site.

Mr Dayton said that as Red Carpet is a charity, it would qualify for more funding than businesses.

If the scheme gets the seal of approval from residents, it will be presented to the council as an alternative to Persimmon's scheme.