Golden days are on the horizon for a North seaside community, as work to recreate its once popular sandy beach began yesterday.

Twenty thousand tonnes of sand were pumped ashore from a giant dredger anchored in Newbiggin Bay - the first step in a £10m scheme to completely overhaul the seafront.

Over the next four weeks the Dutch dredger Oranje will shuttle backwards and forwards between Newbiggin and the dredging site, 20 miles off the Lincolnshire coast near Skegness.

In total, the vessel will deliver around half-a-million tonnes of new sand for the beach.

A 200 metre long breakwater featuring two iconic statues created by international artist Sean Henry, which will stand looking out to sea, is also being built in the centre of Newbiggin Bay.

Wansbeck Council's six-month-long project is to protect the bay from further storm and erosion damage, as well as recreate the beach.

Wansbeck environmental services chief Trevor Straker said:  "When we talked to local people about what they wanted to see the project achieve, they were overwhelmingly in favour of bringing back the beach to Newbiggin.

"In its heyday, Newbiggin was a really popular little resort, and if we can bring back the visitors that should provide a genuine boost to the local economy."

It is the first time such an operation has taken place anywhere along the North-East coastline.