THE 'Mr Blobby' fiasco will cost local tax payers more than £1 million, it was revealed this week. Lancaster City Council has backed down from its legal battle with Noel Edmond's Unique Group and agreed to an out of court settlement of £1 million plus £200,000 costs. The Council had hoped to win compensation for the failed Crinkley Bottom Theme Park, which closed its door in Morecambe's Happy Mount Park after just four months.

But rather than be 'gunged' in the courts, legal experts advised the Council to pay up.

Final figures will be presented to councillors today but the Citizen can reveal that £1million will be paid to Unique and the council will have to pay the group's £100,000 legal bill as well as meeting their own legal fees expected to equal Unique's.

When the final curtain falls on this long-running saga the overall cost to tax payers could come close to £2 million.

"The Council rushed into this with stars in their eyes," said Cllr Geoff Wilson, who believes the authority's legal advice has been disap-

pointing.

"If we are settling out of court now, why have we spent years pursuing a claim? We were told all along that we had a good case... what's changed? What gets me is that the financial burden for this will fall on local tax payers."

Councillors were given no option but to rubber-stamp the climbdown this week after chief executive David Corker met with Unique to hammer out a compromise.

Council Leader Stanley Henig, one of Crinkley Bottom's biggest fans when it first opened in 1994, admitted large sums of money were involved.

"As councillors we are closely constrained by the legal and financial advice we receive from our senior officers. Obviously, considerable sums of money are involved in the dispute with Unique," he said.

"At the end of the day we will have little option but to accept the recommendations. Hopefully we'll be able to put this difficult chapter behind us."

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