AN environmental scheme aimed at recreating a fishing village's Victorian image has turned sour, say residents.

Cobbles have been laid in the main street of Staithes, near Whitby - a North Yorkshire beauty spot, popular with thousands of tourists.

But veteran fisherman Clem James said elderly people and parents with pushchairs were finding the cobbles hazardous and some people had fallen.

He said the widely-spaced stones were "uneven and dangerous" and the surface needed to be levelled with black tar pitch.

Residents' association spokesman Colin Mann said: "The condition of the High Street is a death trap."

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council highways department said the contractors were taking action to rectify the problems.