A TOWN which won the accolade "Environment City" is poised to make a U-turn over its green transport plans.

Green bus routes are to be dropped from a strategy plan - just two weeks before the blueprint is submitted to the executive of Middlesbrough Borough Council for endorsement.

Coun Ken Hall, the council's Commissioner for the Environment, revealed that the local authority may be obliged to repay Government money granted to cover the introduction of bus priority lanes on Acklam and Marton Roads - which will not go ahead.

He claimed that bus lanes had always only been "an option" and said constituents in his ward, which is served by Acklam Road, did not want them.

He said: "It's too easy for any council to bully, but people don't want them and this proves we genuinely listen to people."

Council engineers, who attempt to shape their plans and recommendations to reflect Government guidelines, will be asked to look at incorporating bus priority signals in traffic lights instead.

Where bus lanes have been introduced in a bid to restrict the number of cars using the town centre, the move has been met with anger.