THE severe housing problems on Teesside are being ignored by the Government, a council leader has claimed.

Councillor Dave Walsh, Labour leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, is planning to write to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott after Teesside was not included in a £500m windfall to regenerate poor housing.

Newcastle and Gateshead are both to benefit, but Coun Walsh said Teesside has been left out in the cold. He said Teesside has severe housing problems and is calling for the area to be next in line.

Coun Walsh said: "John Prescott announced a substantial package of help to a number of areas in the UK where there are problems of increasingly derelict older housing in low demand areas.

"In this region, a cash grant was announced for the Newcastle and Gateshead Path-finder project.

"I was hoping that the Tees Valley too might benefit from this announcement, but despite the fact that his White Paper does highlight the problems we face, we have, it seems, to wait our turn.''

He added: "I have to say that in parts of our borough - in particular, areas like South Bank and Grangetown - we do have real problems with decaying and empty properties.

"The steady drift away from terraced housing in areas like these create a problem of dereliction and decay, problems that are not helping our drive to renew and modernise our borough.''

Coun Walsh said there were similar problems in many areas across Teesside.

He said: "I think it is important that these issues are recognised and I will be writing to John Prescott asking him and his ministers to look urgently at our problems.

"Having said that, there are parts of John Prescott's White Paper which are very welcome indeed. There is to be a big boost to environmental and landscaping funds that can be made available to councils, and a new fund to improve parks and play areas.

"As a council we will bid for these funds. But I have to emphasise that, welcome as these initiatives are, they can only work if they are linked to a comprehensive programme for housing renewal in our older communities.''