A COUNCIL that caused feathers to fly with its eviction of a bird club from an observation site, says it acted correctly.

It emerged last night that while forcing Teesmouth Bird Club to quit Hartlepool Observatory, Hartlepool Borough Council still charged the bird watchers rent.

A spokesman said the council had behaved properly over its decision to evict the club from the lookout point in order to develop the site as a tourist attraction.

And he said rent mistakenly charged to the 200-member plus club would be refunded.

The spokesman said: "The licence giving the club access to the site was formally terminated by letter to the secretary of the club in August last year.

"Prior to that, termination discussions were held with representatives of the club and it was agreed that this was the right course of action.''

The official added: "Efforts continue to try to find an alternative bird watching facility. Unfortunately, a half yearly invoice was incorrectly issued last November and we will be taking steps to ensure that the money is refunded.''

Club chairman Ted Parker said: "I think we would agree to differ on that interpretation. The situation always was that we would have continuous use and it was, unfortunately, only fairly recently that it became evident that this was not going to be honoured.''

He said the club's 45 year occupancy of the observatory has led to the site becoming recognised as one of the best vantage points in Britain from which to watch and monitor the movements of seabirds.

Mr Parker said: "Our 45-year lease should have taken precedence over a new lease. We have taken informal legal advice and were told we did have a strong case.

"We are a registered, local charity, but although regionally and nationally well known, we have limited funds. We would have to think very carefully before going down that legal route, but we are looking at that as a possibility.''