A NEW council regime agreed to stay in the North East Assembly despite protestations that the area had closer connections with Yorkshire.

Councillors at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council had considered leaving the North East Assembly, which aims to help to create Home Rule for the region. But on Tuesday, after a lengthy debate on the district's cultural history, they decided to maintain membership.

Councillors were worried that the borough could lose out on money if it did not have a voice on the assembly.

Glyn Nightingale, lead member for Corporate Resources, said: "A lot of people said no to this because of our connections with Yorkshire. But in the real world we are going to part of this and we should be represented. We are going to be on the periphery of any regional Government, whether it's the North-East or Yorkshire, so we need to have someone fighting our corner to make sure we benefit, otherwise we'll have somewhere like Middlesbrough representing us by default."

Coun Steve Kay, a long-standing campaigner to change council addresses to include Yorkshire, said: "Why can't we part of Yorkshire and part of the North-East at the same time?"

The council agreed to examine the possibility of leaving the Northumbria Tourist Board and joining the Yorkshire Tourist Board at a later date.