ROAD closure campaigners in Nunthorpe this week expressed bitter disappointment as a long-running battle was wound up.

But there could still be a backlash over Redcar and Cleveland council's decision to close Gypsy Lane on safety grounds.

Even though the closure has now been made permanent, members of Nunthorpe action group meet next week to consider the possibility of fresh moves.

A deadline for comments on the closure passed on Monday and the council has now formalised the action.

An original 12-month experimental closure of the rat-run road expired last December, but was extended for six months in the face of major opposition to the move.

Campaigners argued that closing Gypsy Lane simply shunted traffic on to other roads in Nunthorpe and called for a village-wide strategy to address the overall situation.

A council spokesman said: "Before the weekend we looked at all the objections and letters of support and judged if any better or different angles had been raised but they had not.

"We waited until Monday's post just to be sure. Our argument has been that closure was made on safety grounds. There have been no accidents since the trial was launched."

He said any problems with more vehicles using other roads was a traffic management issue for Middlesbrough council, which has jurisdiction over half the road area.

"Notices have gone up in Nunthorpe announcing the decision to make the closure permanent and that is the end of the matter as far as we are concerned," said the spokesman.

Action group chairman Mr Stan Robson said yesterday: "We are bitterly disappointed on behalf of a huge majority of people in Nunthorpe.

"Throughout all this, the council has refused to listen to what people have been saying. There has been no reasoned argument."

Mr Robson claimed the official notices had gone up before the deadline had passed.

"This was arrogant in the extreme," he said. "I despair."

But he said members would re-group next week to consider a complaint to the local government Ombudsman about the closure notices.

And the group will now be focusing on its other aims of traffic-calming on certain roads, an estate-wide strategy and a bypass scheme.

Coun Brenda Thompson, who represents Nunthorpe on Middlesbrough council and who has backed the campaign from the start, said: "I am saddened by the inevitability of all this.

"The closure decision was made on day one. The council has gone through a paper exercise but never really intended to take notice of the people. This is a great disappointment."

Coun Thompson said any further action on the issue would get her full support, but she warned that the financial risks would have to be carefully considered