INNOVATIVE flood defences in Cleveland have "set the trend" for countless others across the country, a Government minister said while visiting the region yesterday.

But, as Floods Minister Elliot Morley inspected the £300,000 defences at Skinningrove, villagers said they still weren't satisfactory.

Residents whose properties have been ruined on separate occasions over the years said there were still three major areas of concern.

However, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council stressed that consultation due to be completed in the coming months should resolve any future problems.

Mr Morley heard that the new defences, paid for with £145,000 Government funding and £155,000 from Redcar and Cleveland Council, would provide more than 180 flood-prone properties with protection. They were constructed following floods in July and November 2000, which caused damage to 102 and 178 properties respectively.

Brick-clad concrete walls contain the beck, while a debris screen catches fallen trees travelling downstream. Steel floodgates, operated by villagers, work in conjunction with an early-warning system installed by the Environment Agency. The system was put into place this summer and flooding was narrowly avoided shortly afterwards.

Mr Morley said: "Skinningrove has been a trend-setter for the entire country in having this fully-integrated system."

But Geoffrey Brundle, owner of one of the most at risk premises in Marine Terrace, overlooking the sea, said there were still concerns in the village. He said the beck had been narrowed and would run too deep in floods, the area used for fishermen to launch was in the wrong place, and the 470 tonnes of rock used by Northumbrian Water was also in the wrong place.

He said: "They have these experts but they don't bother asking the people here who have watched problems with flooding for up to 60 years."

Another villager, who declined to be named, said the rock had recently been donated by Northumrbian Water to the village for further defence work, but Redcar and Cleveland Council had not given residents permission to put it to good use.

However, a spokesman for the council said the authority was happy to accept the rock and said the council's consultants, Mouchel, was examining ways to improve the defences. He said Mouchel is due to announce areas of improvement in November.