A ROW has erupted over the state of a piece of land in an east Cleveland village which threatened to ruin the church's festival.

St Helen's festival day takes place next Friday and is celebrated every year by villagers in Carlin How, because the village church is named after the saint.

But a row has broken out with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council over ownership of land near the church, which is not being maintained.

The condition of the land is so bad that some of the weeds are more than four feet tall.

Seth Ridley, warden of St Helen's Church, said: "No one wants to know - it is starting to grow across the road. We have had this problem before. The council says one side of the road does not belong to them and they are not obliged to do anything.

"We can't do anything about it, but the council could have trimmed the side of the road.

"It gives a bad image of the village to drivers, but we are not going to let it get the better of us, and our festival will go ahead."

East Cleveland councillors Steve Kay and Bruce Mackenzie came to the rescue by taking it upon themselves to clear some of the problem areas when they got fed up of the council's indifference.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said it could only maintain the areas it had responsibility for, because of budget restrictions.