RESIDENTS with ideas to improve the image of their town are to be given the green light.

About 30 youngsters from Newport Primary School, Middlesbrough, helped to launch a project yesterday to plant an eyesore former railway marshalling yard with 400 trees.

The £8,000 for the project comes from the New Deal for Communities fund.

The director of the local programme, Jackie Heeney, said: "There are many other parts of west Middlesbrough that would benefit from improvements to the environment.

"We want to encourage any group operating in the NDC area to apply for grants and help to make west Middlesbrough a greener and more attractive place.'