A ROW over the district's green and pleasant land broke out at the council this week.

With the North West Regional Assembly currently preparing a 20 year regional development plan, the Greens and Liberal Democrats wanted the council to signal a big "no" to any new greenfield housing developments.

But MBI, Conservative and Labour councillors have voted to leave the door open to developers.

The Green's call for a ban had even won the backing of local MP Hilton Dawson and a dismayed Cllr Emily Heath said: "This is terrible news for our district.

Local people are telling us that they don't want urban sprawl, they don't want more traffic congestion and that they want the problems caused by low demand for housing in places like Skerton and the West End of Morecambe addressed.

"I cannot believe how many councillors have ignored what the people who voted for them have been saying. Labour councillors are even disagreeing with their MP."

She added: "The last thing we should be doing is building houses on the edge of town. If we do that we will end up as a dormitory for commuters to Preston and Manchester."

The majority of councillors at the meeting believed that what the area needed was more investment and jobs.

Chairman Keith Budden said: "The Greens want a total ban which we consider to be draconian and unreasonable. The planning process has to be flexible and there's a big difference between an infill plot and a green field on the edge of town. We're all concerned about the incursion of housing into the green belt and where we can we will encourage the use of brownfield and derelict sites."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.