NEW moves to reverse a controversial road closure were being made yesterday.

Conservative members of Redcar and Cleveland council were calling for an end to permanent closure of Gypsy Lane in Nunthorpe.

At a meeting of the full council, Tory group leader Coun Barbara Harpham was proposing a compromise on the long-running problem.

She drew loud applause when she announced the move to a packed public meeting called to debate the issue on Tuesday.

Hundreds of people crowded into a Nunthorpe school to show support for an action group battling to get Gypsy Lane reopened.

But ahead of the council session, Redcar and Cleveland leader, Coun David Walsh, dismissed Coun Harpham's move.

"She is chairman of our scrutiny committee but when the matter came before the members they took no action," he said.

The public meeting was called after the council decided to continue with a 12-month experimental closure of Gypsy Lane on safety grounds. Residents had long complained of safety hazards with drivers using the road as a rat-run.

But people living elsewhere in Nunthorpe say traffic has merely been shifted to other roads. There have been repeated calls for a village-wide traffic strategy.

Middlesbrough borough and Redcar and Cleveland councils had been working together on Gypsy Lane as the road splits the two councils' areas.

But a war of words broke out when the closure was confirmed and Middlesbrough is now going ahead with a calming scheme for its part.

Nunthorpe action group chairman Mr Stan Robson said he was thrilled with Tuesday's turnout for the meeting, which appealed for residents' suggestions for action. His committee now meets next week to draw up a list of priorities.

"We will make our presence felt and get things moving," he said.

Coun Harpham said the scrutiny committee had asked for more consultation on Gypsy Lane but had been turned down by the ruling Labour group.

"We will fight for you but we will never win because the Lib Dems are for closure as well," she said.

Yesterday's council resolution called for a 20mph zone along a reopened Gypsy Lane plus traffic calming.

"This would address the council's fears about safety and your fears about the road being used as a rat-run," she said.

Mr Robson said the action group had been deflated since the previous decision.

"We feared support might have drained away but we needn't have worried," he said. "We have spent 14 months trying to get the council to reverse its decision which puts the feelings of 170 or so people who live in Gypsy Lane above those of the 4,000 or so who live elsewhere.

"Nunthorpe is suffering terribly from environmental conditions; traffic is appalling and getting worse and congestion along Guisborough Road is unacceptable."

He said a 1,700-name petition calling for continued closure contained the signatures of people living as far afield as Huddersfield and Stoke.

Mr Robson said he was taking legal advice on possible action such as a judicial review or a challenge through the Human Rights Act.

Residents' suggestions for action included:

l taking down the Gypsy Lane barriers;

l making the whole of Nunthorpe a 20mph zone;

l stopping vehicles going down The Avenue instead of expensive calming measures;

l a cut in council tax to compensate for the problem