A £14 million apartment and leisure complex overlooking Morecambe Bay could be developed on the current Bubbles site if a local business consortium gets its way. The consortium believe the resort's promenade is now one of the premier tourist sites in the North West and claim everything is in place to get the ambitious project off the ground. The plan involves the refurbishment of the Midland Hotel, 130 family holiday apartments plus a leisure complex which could make use of the Bubbles pool.

They claim to have massive financial backing plus the interest of a major blue chip company and are now hoping the council will "come on board" to make the project a reality. "Morecambe has finally dragged itself out of the past and this sort of development will be a major boost to its image," said one of the scheme's backers, local businessman John Pennington.

"A conceptual study to develop the whole site has attracted a lot of interest from local and national backers. Morecambe needs the Midland Hotel restored to its former glory and top quality apartments over-looking the Bay would be great on the adjacent site. Because of Crinkley Bottom the council is reticent about getting involved in a major tourism venture like this but they need to get round the table with us. If they want the private sector to lead the way - here we are."

The consortium's finance broker Philip Hawkswell added: "A deal like this has to be put together very carefully and all interested parties need to be involved. We've got interest from financial providers around the country including a top '100' company. What Morecambe doesn't need is for the council to do a secret deal which will end up watering down everyone's interest in this fantastic development."

The council's management contract to run the Dome/Bubbles site runs out in March next year but looks unlikely to be renewed.

A council spokesman commented: "In recent months, officers have been reviewing potential options for the future of the complex and a report will be presented to the Leisure Service Group on May 19. They will decide how the council should proceed."

A petition to save the Dome is gathering signatures in the resort but the boss of the management company that runs the complex, Mr Brian Bromiley, said: "We've had bookings for April and beyond but I'm not in a position to accept them because I've been given no assurances that our contract will be renewed even on a temporary basis. I'll be very sorry if the people of the district lose this popular facility."

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