A PROJECT which has invested thousands of pounds into facelifts for eyesores on the Yorkshire coast is seeking cash to expand its work.

The North Yorkshire and Cleveland Heritage Coast Group has masterminded a chain of schemes to improve villages, the landscape, wildlife and archaeology, and the economies of fishing villages.

Project officer John Beech said bids were being made to the European Union's Objective 2 funding scheme to develop a new coastal strategy. "We have done a great deal in the villages, developing initiatives with communities," he said.

Work has been carried out in Staithes, Hinderwell, Runswick Bay, Sandsend, Hawsker, Robin Hood's Bay, Staintondale, Ravenscar, Cloughton, Burniston and Scalby, including aiding villages to carry out appraisals of their needs.

Grants of up to 100 per cent are available for schemes involving land management.

The heritage coast group is supported by the North York Moors National Park Authority, North Yorkshire County Council, Scarborough and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Councils, the Environment Agency, English Nature, Countryside Agency and parish councils.

Projects worth about £90,000 have been carried out. It has been agreed to extend the work to next June, and ways are being sought to fund it beyond then.