PLANS to make the Wood Street area of St Annes a more upbeat " drink and dine " area are being delayed by a decades-old clause in many of the area's leases.

Businesses keen to buy into the street have found that the clause forbids the use of exterior lighting displays after 8.30pm.

The deadline was set many years ago when Wood Street was predominantly residential.

Shops were allowed at the Clifton Drive South end of the street, but a "lights out " deadline was set so that residents could enjoy a non-neon existance.

The clause is contained in many of the leases issued by the then St Annes on Sea Land and Building Company which own the title to the square mile at the centre of the town.

Fees including legal costs are incurred by anyone wishing to have the clause removed. Businessman John Simpson, 55, of Leyland, had been highly interested in re-vamping one of the retail outlets in Wood Street.

He said: "I would have wished for my signs to be lit until 11pm as people are still about then."

Mr Simpson added: "This clause is out-of-date. When I walked down the street at night I wondered why it appeared so dark."

"However a lease is a lease. You turn a blind eye to it at your own cost and you have it changed...at your own cost."

But not all restaurants in the Wood Street area are bound by the clause. Tiggi's boss Romano Ruscitti said he was not aware of the clause, saying that he had lights outside his premises after 8.30pm and had never had any problems with planning.

Barry Smith, head of legal services at Fylde Borough Council, said matters of this kind were quite common in commercial areas. He said: "If there is such a provision in Wood Street, and there are all sorts of restricting provisions, they can be overcome and I would not have thought that it would cause such a problem."