RESIDENTS are hoping to thwart a developer who has told a cricket club to leave its home of 104 years.

Proposals to have Stacksteads's Waterbarn Recreation Ground recognised as a village green' by Lancashire County Council are being drawn up.

Residents hope to use a case involving a piece of scrubland in Oxford, known as Trap Grounds, as a legal precedent to block development.

In the Trap Grounds case, Oxford Council wanted to develop land that had been used for walking and wildlife watching for years.

But after the land was given village green status, the development plans were thwarted.

Ron Ashworth, president of the cricket club, said the club hoped residents would set up a steering committee next week to draw up the village green status plans.

He said: "This seems our best bet for saving the club. There are one or two residents who have expressed an interest and at the meeting we will be setting out what is involved in the process."

The cricket ground's new owner, Jonathon Webster, has told the club it has to leave at the end of the season. However, he is willing to pay for the club to set up at another site of a similar standard.

Mr Webster this week unveiled plans to turn the ground into a community sports facility.

A cricket club has played at Waterbarn for 104 years but in May, Waterbarn Baptist Church sold the ground to Mr Webster.

He said he was cancelling the club's licence to use the ground as the club had failed to meet the terms of the agreement by making late payments and failing in the upkeep of the club house and bowling green area of the ground.

The village green plan will be discussed next Tuesday at 7pm.