POLICE were called to a council meeting as the saga of the North-East's so-called 'ghost ships' took another dramatic twist on Friday.

Officers were forced to escort Mike Young, an objector to the plans by Able UK to dismantle the rusting United States warships, after he interrupted the meeting at the Borough Hall in Hartlepool.

The company was reapplying for permission from Hartlepool Borough Council to develop its Graythorp site, on the outskirts of the town.

It wants to extend the use of the site to include the construction, repair, refurbishment and decommissioning of all types of ships, vessels and other craft, and for the manufacture of wind turbines.

It also hopes to create a dry dock, railway track, metal recycling facilities and warehouses, and has applied for Hazardous Substances Consent to dispose of waste materials.

However, at the meeting yesterday, the planning committee voted by ten-to-one to defer a decision until after a public inquiry, starting on Tuesday, has taken place into Able's appeal against its previous refusal.

It was a decision taken against the advice of the councils own officers and was last night labelled by Able as "a failure to act in the interests of local people which will cost huge investment and job opportunities for the area".

However, addressing councillors earlier, Coun Carl Richardson, who proposed the deferral on the grounds more information is needed, declared to loud applause: "It is the members here that will make the decision, not the officers."

Mr Young, 59, a member of the Friends of Hartlepool, had earlier been escorted from the meeting by police after he was refused permission to address the committee and would not leave when asked to by security officers.

Speaking outside, he said: "We are absolutely delighted with the committee's decision. It is exactly what we wanted.

"It gives us the opportunity to present all our evidence to the inquiry. Hopefully, all the facts will be revealed there."

Peter Tweddle, of the Hartlepool and North Tees Friends of the Earth, said the decision was the correct one.

"The amount of expertise needed to make a proper decision means the ordinary layman finds it very difficult," he said.

However, Peter Stephenson, chairman of Able UK, condemned the council's actions, saying he had made it clear timing was critical in clinching major construction contracts.

"The Council was fully aware that it was imperative we received planning approval in order for us to begin large-scale construction contracts next year and that, if we did not receive planning approval in October, then the work would be lost," he said.

"Inevitably, if we have to wait until the outcome of the forthcoming planning inquiry, which probably will not report until early next year, these contracts - and with them the £50m investment and 750-plus jobs they would bring to the area - will be lost."

The public inquiry, held by the Planning Inspectorate, will get underway on Tuesday at Hartlepool College of Further Education, starting at 10am.