A NORTH-EAST council has been thrown a last-minute lifeline in its bid to avoid massive changes to its political set-up.

Teesdale District Council is among only a handful of local authorities in the region to shun Government pressure to ditch the traditional committee system and replace it with a cabinet system.

The changes are part of the Local Government Act, which will bring about the biggest shake-up in the region's councils since the Victorian era.

Councils have so far been given the task of adopting one of three systems based around a political executive - an elected mayor and cabinet executive, a leader and cabinet executive, or an elected mayor and council manager. But a last-minute amendment to the Act, which allows shire districts with a population of less than 85,000 to introduce models without a separate executive, has given Teesdale hope of keeping something similar to the status quo.

The news was welcomed at a full meeting of Teesdale council, and many members backed calls to play a waiting game.

Councillor John Armstrong said: "We've got a lifeline that we didn't have before and surely the best thing to do is to wait for more information before we decide which path to take."

Among members to agree were Councillor Jo Fergus who said: "I think we should play a waiting game and hope that we can get the status quo.

"We need more details on several issues, and until we get them I don't think we should rush into anything."

Members agreed to await further details before making any progress