CAMPAIGNERS in a seaside town gathered to celebrate victory over their local authority in row over parking charges, while others used it to issue a vote of no confidence in the council leader.

More than 100 people turned out in Saltburn at the weekend in a show of unity after their campaign to block Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council imposing parking charges in certain areas of the town was defeated.

Residents had a long-running dispute with the Labour-run council over controversial plans to introduce the parking charges in the town and on Saturday some took the opportunity to vent their frustration by calling for a vote of no confidence in council leader George Dunning.

In February, the authority scrapped its proposals to introduce fees after widespread opposition.

But locals remain concerned that plans could be revived after the authority refused to rule out introducing charges in the future.

Vicky Parker, who campaigned against the scheme, said: “It was just a celebration of people in the town coming together to achieve some success in the fight against parking charges and some people felt it would be an opportunity to have a vote of no confidence in George Dunning – that’s not why I was there.

“I don’t really have confidence in the council because of the way they have behaved but this was a really friendly meeting to celebrate the U-turn.”

Thousands of people signed a petition and the council decided to spend £20,000 on an independent consultation process maintaining that they had listened to residents’ concerns.