RUSTING US warships languishing in a North-East shipyard after an international wrangle could be returned home by May.

Friends of the Earth (FoE), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Greenpeace met Environment Minister Elliot Morley this week to discuss the so-called Ghost Ships, which are anchored at Hartlepool.

The vessels, part of an £11m contract, are in limbo after the High Court ruled that scrap company Able UK did not have the necessary planning permission to start dismantling them.

Friends of the Earth claimed last night that the ships could be sent home in May when the Atlantic Ocean is calm enough for their return.

The campaign group is pressing the Government to order the ships back.

Hartlepool company Able UK believes it will have secured planning permission by then.

But the company suffered another setback yesterday when Hartlepool Borough Council announced that additional information it had received did not change its view that the company has no valid planning permission for the creation of a dry dock to dismantle the ships.

Able UK is preparing a new planning application so the work can take place.

FoE campaign director Mike Childs said he thought it could take up to eight months for the necessary permissions to be granted and even longer to build the dry dock.

He said: "This really is a race against time and the minister is crossing his fingers and hoping he doesn't have to make a difficult political decision.

"It really is a long shot that Able UK are going to have the permissions in place before the boats have to go back."

Peter Stephenson, Able UK's managing director, who met Mr Morley in London this week, said yesterday: "Following the meeting of its planning committee on December 17, the council stated that it had considered the additional information submitted by ourselves in relation to the planning permission for the bund, which would enable the provision of dry dock facilities.

"One can only assume that it was felt necessary to hold a further meeting today because some of the information we had provided had not been considered by members.

"In fact, following the meeting on December 17 and the outcome of court hearings in December, we have already begun the process of preparing new planning applications to refurbish the dry dock facilities and identify all the activities which can be undertaken at the Able UK facility, including the recycling."

* For more information, visit www.ghostships.co.uk