Thousands of tonnes of toxic sludge from the Tyne's dock areas are to be dredged up and dumped off the North Sea coast.

The plans, to remove 60,000 cubic metres of waste material - contaminated with paint residue because of the region's shipbuilding heritage - have sparked an environmental row.

Residents living near the site at Souter Point, Whitburn, and members of the North Sea Fisheries Committee say the scheme is unacceptable.

But, the Port of Tyne Authority, which applied for permission to carry out the work, says it is necessary as part of its general maintenance work to make sure ships can pass safely along the river.

And, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, says the plans are safe - even though this type of waste disposal has never been tried anywhere else in the UK - because the contaminated material will be covered with a cap of sand and silt.

Anti-sewage campaigner Bob Latimer, a 61-year-old engineer of Bents Road, Whitburn, said yesterday: "We want this scheme stopped immediately. How do we know what is going to happen if this stuff gets into the marine system."

He is backed by members of the Seaham Environmental Association, who are so worried, they have produced their own research document about the proposals.

Report author Norman Cann, said: "We're down tide from the site, so if anything goes wrong, we are going to be directly in the firing line. The Port of Tyne Authority and Defra have promised to control this material by capping it with sand and silt, but once it's in the North Sea, it is the sea which will control it, so I don't think they can make those promises.

"It's never been tried in this country before so we're entering into the unknown and the North Sea can be ferocious.

"Who's to say winter storms and the spring tide won't shift the cap and release all the toxic material below?"

David McCandless, chief fishery officer for the North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee, has also lodged an objection.

"Committee members do not believe the technology involved in the process of capping contaminated dredge spoil in the marine environment is foolproof, despite trials in the US and some European countries," he said.

"The environmental and ecological risks associated with the trial are just too great for us to support the scheme. It's all because of the success of the Tyne in past decades and the paints and chemicals that were used in the shipbuilding process.

"We're calling on the Port of Tyne Authority and Defra to keep us fully informed because when this goes ahead, we believe there might be the need for temporary fishing exclusion zones during and throughout the lifetime of the project."

A Port of Tyne spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that a licence for the scheme had been issued, but could not say when it would start. "The Port removes almost 500,000 tonnes of naturally occurring silt from the river every year," she said. "A small proportion of this requires more specialist handling and the Port has spent £550,000 over the past eight years to research and evaluate every possible option open.

"Following extensive consultation with the appropriate regulatory bodies, the method of confined disposal has been approved as the best practicable environmental solution because it is a tried-and-tested technique, frequently used worldwide. The trial will be very carefully monitored by Defra.

"I just want to reassure people that this was because regulations weren't as stringent in the olden days of shipbuilding. It's a one-off historical problem that will not happen again."

A Defra spokesman said: "The licence to the Port of Tyne is for a trial disposal of dredged material containing contaminants above the levels normally accepted for sea disposal. To ensure they are contained, clean silt and sand will be deposited on top as a cap.

"The licence was issued after a detailed environmental impact assessment and following close consultation with the port, its environmental advisers and other bodies including the Environment Agency and English Nature."