GREEN campaigners claim a Labour-run council is grabbing green fields near Marske for a business park rather than reclaiming old industrial sites.

And they say Redcar and Cleveland council is going against the recommendations of a government panel which discouraged green field developments near Marske.

The claims have been described as inaccurate and spurious by the council.

An estimated 70 people attended a public meeting at Marske last Thursday night to discuss the controversial claims.

Representatives of Teesside Green party and the Council for the Protection of Rural England claimed not enough was being done to protect rural fields on the edges of urban Teesside. They said old industrial sites should be reclaimed for new business parks.

Green party campaigner Mr Peter Goodwin accepted job creation was important but added: "This meeting has left nobody in any doubt as to how people feel. Our leaders can reclaim old industrial sites and protect the open spaces that we value, if they have the will.

"I believe Redcar and Cleveland council's intense efforts to keep the Marske site in its plans, despite the verdict of local people and independent inspectors, show it has no real intention of looking elsewhere."

Mrs Jan Archer, of the Council for the Protection of Rural England, said the present rules to protect Teesside's rural fringes were weak. Regulations had failed to stop urban sprawl in East Cleveland, Stockton and Wynard.

However, other speakers said the Marske site had been earmarked as a possible development site for some time.

Mr John Lowther, director of the Tees Valley joint strategy unit, said council plans provided for a business park on a field near Marske - if no other site could be found. Redcar and Cleveland council wanted to retain this option.

Coun leader David Walsh said the protesters' advertising leaflet was wrong.

"I just wish the Green party would try to understand the proposed structure plan. It says a business park could only be considered on three grounds. - if a clear need is demonstrated, if it cannot be provided on previously developed land, and if 75pc of land at Kirkleatham business park is committed to occupiers. Clearly, there is a series of tests and I do not believe the use of brown field land is insurmountable.

However, he emphasised: "We still have unemployment - exacerbated by the Corus job cuts - and there is uncertainty in the chemicals sector. We owe it to our children that there are local work and career opportunities.