Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council looks set to do a complete U-turn over plans to allow a group of travellers to stay at an illegal site at Warrenby, near Redcar.

Officers from the authority were recommending that the council executive, which meets on Tuesday, accepts a plan to allow the travellers to stay at the site on a renewable agreement basis, despite a string of objections from local people.

But the recommendation was dramatically overturned at an overview and scrutiny meeting yesterday.

Members of the Coatham and Warrenby communities went to Eston Town Hall to hand in petitions against the proposals and ward councillors for Coatham and Dormanstown expressed their concerns at the prospect.

As a result, the committee decided to recommend that the executive agrees to make the travellers leave the site at the end of their contract - which runs out in the middle of April.

Councillor Dave M'cLuckie, lead member for community safety, now has to explain the decision to the executive. He said: "There were very strong words in opposition to the original plan by ward members and extremely strong opinions put to us in a well-ordered fashion by residents and business people from the area.

"I believe Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is the only council in the country that operates a scrutiny system of the recommendations before a decision is made, giving councillors the chance to influence that decision and the opportunity to bring in residents who they represent to give evidence.

"In this case the recommendation has been changed and that shows real democracy in action."

It is unlikely the council will now vote against the new recommendation.

Officers had proposed to allow the travellers to stay because they signed a behaviour agreement and the council retained some control over the situation. Officers felt that insistence on the travellers leaving, would simply lead to a problem elsewhere in the borough. The travellers were reluctant to move as their children are in local schools.