RYEDALE District Councillor Lindsay Burr, who gave birth to her daughter Sophie at Malton Hospital, says she is completely on board the Birth Right Campaign, and will do whatever it takes to keep Malton's maternity unit open.

She said: "I had Sophie up there and I can only say that it was absolutely excellent.

"All I've heard from mums who have babies there is that they had no complaints and really enjoyed the experience."

She said she believes this current threat of closure stems back to changes in opening times in 2005, when the unit stopped being open overnight.

At the time she and colleagues on the council demanded reassurances that the unit would not close.

"I think maybe the writing was on the wall then, but we were given a guarantee by the chief executive of the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust that the unit would stay open," she said.

"It is so disappointing when you take a promise in good faith from senior people and you are let down. It is disgraceful that Ryedale citizens have to be faced with this threat again."

She added that she was delighted that the mayor of Malton Jane Ford was fighting the closure so fiercely, and praised the Gazette & Herald's campaign, commenting: "I can only praise the Gazette for doing a marvellous job in raising awareness of this issue."

She added: "I think I speak for all my council colleagues when I say that everybody feels very strongly about this, and I personally will do anything I can to help, even if it means going down to Westminster in person."

Members of the County Council's health scrutiny committee are meeting at Stokesley Town Hall on December 8 to discusses the financial plight of the Scarborough NHS Trust and its hospitals at Malton, Scarborough, Bridlington and Whitby.

The Trust has recently announced a turnaround plan aiming to plug a £27 million black hole in its spending, which includes reducing services at Scarborough Hospital, closing the pain clinic there, and limiting the service offered at Malton maternity unit.

Speaking as the gazette launched its Birth Right campaign, Ryedale District Councillor Howard Keal said: "This latest threat is one in a long line of attempts by the Trust to reduce the service in Malton hospital.

"In the past I have been promised that women should continue to have the right to stay overnight at the unit when giving birth.

"There is clear evidence that this assurance has been broken and what we are seeing is a gradual erosion of the maternity services in Malton."

Ryedale MP John Greenway is backing the Birth Right campaign and has written to Iain McInnes, the acting chief executive of the Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust, expressing his disappointment that he has not been informed of the consultation on the future of medical services for Ryedale patients, including proposals to end deliveries at Malton maternity unit.