People living in a town where nine people have been killed in a crash and fire in the past week deserve to "feel safe in their own homes", a council leader has said.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council leader Alec Brown's comments come after seven people, including two police officers, died in a car crash at South Bank, near Middlesbrough, on Saturday and a 34-year-old woman and seven-year-old girl died in a house fire in Grangetown on Wednesday.

Brown told Radio 4's Today programme he had called an "urgent meeting" on Friday among councillors, police and social housing providers.

Police have made several arrests in connection with the recent deaths.

Brown said he understood people from parts of Middlesbrough and Redcar might feel "left behind".

"I'm from an estate, from the same ilk," he said.

"You live around people that may be suffering poverty or other social issues, it can be that uniform sort of consciousness that 'we're left behind'.

"But I can assure the people of Grangetown and South Bank – they're as important to me as a people from any other state in the borough and we're working tirelessly to ensure that they do feel safe in their own houses."

PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough died on Saturday when a Volkswagen Passat, going the wrong way on the A66 at South Bank hit their vehicle.

The five young men in the Volkswagen also died.

Police said 17 people, aged between 18 and 61, had been arrested across Teesside as part of an ongoing investigation into the lead-up to the crash.

They have been held on a range of offences, including possession of a firearm and being part of an organised crime group.

On Wednesday Natalie McDonald, 34, died along with her seven-year-old niece, Valentina Foster, in the fire in Grangetown.

Cleveland Police said the blaze had also left a 48-year-old woman in a critical condition in hospital alongside another three people who suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Two men, aged 23 and 31, had been arrested on suspicion of murder and were in police custody, the force said.

It said it was "keeping an open mind" about the fire and said it could not "rule out any links to wider organised crime at this time".

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