NHS managers held talks with a council yesterday over the controversial closure of a maternity hospital.

The meeting between South Tees NHS Trust and Redcar and Cleveland Council, to explain the closure of Guisborough Maternity Unit, lasted for more than two hours.

Councillors had set up a committee to examine the closure in November, which the trust said was temporary due to staff shortages, but did not set a reopening date.

Since then, thousands of people from across east Cleveland have signing petitions calling for it to be reopened.

At the meeting, at Eston Town Hall, the council's nine-member all-party health select committee posed questions collected at a public meeting held in November.

Speaking after the discussion, chairman Vilma Collins said the talks were "very, very useful and informative"

She said: "It is clear that the trust is making every effort to reopen it. There is no doubt, though, that there is a national shortage of midwives. It has been a very emotive time, especially for the mums-to-be."

The NHS trust team at the meeting consisted of trust chairman John Foster, chief executive Bill Murray, divisional manager for women and children Alison Hughes, maternity services manager and senior midwife Fran Toller and consultant obstetrician Dr Helen Simpson.

Mr Foster said: "We had a very constructive meeting, where I felt everyone concerned got their points over."