A MISSION to make Redcar and Cleveland a cleaner place began yesterday.

It was launched in Eston by Redcar and Cleveland Council's new area management department, with the help of a dolly-barrow man.

Steve Patchett, who has worked in Eston for three years, has got a new barrow, a purpose-built mobile bin with separate bin bag compartments and hooks for brush, shovel and litter-pickers, for the first clean-up blitz.

A six-strong taskforce, with extra equipment, worked around the West Street car park in Eston, pruning and removing overgrown shrubs, removing rotten fence posts, and collecting litter.

Simon Dale, the council's director of area management, said: "We want to bring together a whole network of elements, cleansing staff, grounds maintenance, the community safety wardens, our countryside staff and everyone involved in the parks.

"The aim is to create an organisation which is pulling in the right direction and can operate quickly and efficiently to deliver improving services."

The tidy-up teams will also be in action along Redcar's seafront area before Easter.