A LEADING councillor today warned that the Ribble Valley was in danger of becoming a "rich man's theme park" unless action was taken to stop the spread of holiday homes.

Coun Frank Dyson, leader of the LibDems on Ribble Valley Council, has called for a ban on holiday developments after three were put before councillors.

His comments came after reports suggested Premiership footballers were planning to snap up holiday homes at a new centre being built in Gisburn.

The 'luxurious' Ribblesdale Park near Gisburn, involves 62 holiday lodges, costing at least £150,000 each and spread across 1,000 acres.

Councillors had rejected the application but the Hindley family, who are the developers and owners of the Gisburne Park site, won on appeal.

The homes come with maid service, saunas, hot tubs and plasma entertainment systems. Several Manchester United players have been linked to the site. England midfielder Nicky Butt is even reported to have bought one.

Guy Hindley, 28, the owner of Gisburne Park and founder of Ribblesdale Park said: "We want to build somewhere exclusive, somewhere people can really get away from it all in utmost luxury. We have had over 200 inquiries and some of those have been from premiership footballers."

But Coun Dyson said: "This development threatens to be as big as Gisburn.

"There are now three holiday developments near Gisburn and all the time people are coming in with ideas for new sites.

"Tourism has the ability to be a wonderful aid to the Ribble Valley, especially with the decline in the agricultural sector.

"But it also has the ability to ruin the Ribble Valley is not handled properly and I fear we will be over-run by holiday developments which will turn the borough into a rich man's theme park. We have a situation in the borough where people are having to move out of the area because they can't afford property prices."

Mr Hindley added: "Local residents are much more positive now that they realise what we are doing. The people who are buying them are monied people and that will have a significant effect on the local economy."