MORECAMBE'S Midland Hotel could be taken over by a firm which specialises in turning derelict buildings into luxury apartments, or accountants who want to re-open it.

Meanwhile, a mystery leisure company is understood to be looking at the Winter Gardens, as councillors continue to debate whether to write off a £112,000 loan to its current owners.

Urban Splash, an award-winning firm which has completed a series of successful renovation projects in Liverpool and Manchester, have had talks about bringing the Midland back into use.

However, they are not believed to have made a bid for the building at this stage.

A consortium of Blackpool-based accountants are also interested in the hotel, while Barnfield Construction - the controversial company with a long leasehold on the Winter Gardens and several other key sites in Morecambe - are also bidding.

The accountants are believed to favour continuing to use the building as a hotel while Barnfield would look to convert it into apartments.

Urban Splash was formed in 1993 and specialises in developing 'under-used historic buildings and brownfield sites.' Its schemes in Manchester and Liverpool have already seen more than £100 million in investments and the firm has won some 75 awards.

It is expanding beyond its traditional base with new schemes throughout the UK and has looked at the Midland before.

Administrators Mazars Neville Russell currently have a freezing order on the hotel's parent company, Leisure Group UK, as investigations continue into the affairs of former owners, Jared Brook and Lincoln Fraser.

Meanwhile, an un-named leisure company has held talks with the council over a future use for the Winter Gardens.

However, councillors look set to reject the idea of writing off a loan to the companies behind the former theatre's development - despite being told that it will probably never be paid back.

£112,000 handed over to BART and Barnfield will only be returned to the council if the two receive £1.2million in grant money - the figure given so far from the council, Single Regeneration Budget and English Heritage hovers just below that and no more grants are likely to be forthcoming.

In a heated meeting of the external affairs review board, councillors demanded a meeting with BART and rejected any steps to cancel the debt.

Free independent Cllr Paul Woodruff said: "This is extremely confusing and is almost on a par with the Blobby situation.

"The average person would not be able to comprehend the scenario we are in and I wouldn't be able to explain it to them."

MBI Cllr Shirley Burns added: "£1 million of public cash has been spent and all we have is an empty shell.

"It's a complete waste of money.

Let's leave the loan at the status quo and try to get back some of the public money that the working class people of this area have paid in council tax."

An alternative proposal which would have seen the council's cabinet consulting with BART and Barnfield about cancelling the loan was rejected.