FURIOUS residents stormed a council cabinet meeting to protest at plans to demolish 1,000 homes in South Bank, near Middlesbrough.

Fifteen people marched with banners into the meeting held at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's offices, in Redcar, east Cleveland, on Tuesday evening.

The meeting was briefly delayed by the protestors, which included Eunice Smith, who said afterwards: "They are killing communities. They want the money and they don't care who they put out of their houses."

Chris Abbott, cabinet member for housing and neighbourhood renewal, was on his way out for a cigarette when he was approached by protestors.

"I had no idea they were there. I was a bit surprised," he said. "I spent a lot of time with them but they were getting abusive. They are making dreadful, silly allegations. All we want to do is provide decent homes for people in the 21st Century."

He said millions of pounds had been spent on the area in the past 25 years but it had continued to decline.

"We've done so much patching and mending but people are voting with their feet. There are houses boarded up, vandalised, and set on fire and every street is affected."

"People won't invest in the area as it is and we won't be able to stop the decline. The people say they haven't been consulted but they have been consulted to death."

Dr Joan Rees, the council's director of planning, told residents at a recent public meeting that no investor was interested in building homes at South Bank, and that the community's future lay in the building of 900 homes close by.