RESIDENTS fighting to stop houses being built in the Poulton area of Morecambe are to take their case to the local government ombudsman. The Poulton Residents Committee claim the site of the former market should be a community park not an intensive housing development. And in a last ditch bid to force the council to scrap its controversial plans, they claim the matter has been mishandled and should be fully investigated.

"Nearly everyone in Poulton thinks it should be a green site, even if it's just grassed over. The whole thing has been mishandled from the start," claimed ward councillor, Tricia Heath.

"Councillors said they needed the money from the sale of the site but they have sold it for a lot less than was being asked. And, with what's been spent already, the council will be getting less than half of what it asked for. The whole matter should be looked at again."

The council originally wanted £300,000 but sold the plot to LEC Construction for £215,000. With nearly £70,000 already spent on the site by the council residents claim their plans for a lottery bid to develop a community park would have been the best option.

Resident campaigner, Mike Ellis, said: "We had an excellent chance to convert their area into a park for the whole community using lottery cash. The lottery people told us our ideas were some of the best they had received but without backing from the council it was difficult to submit a bid. The residents even offered to raise the cash themselves but the council said £300,000 was out of our reach. That figure may have been, but we could have easily raised the amount that the council have actually realised from the sale."

The resident's have won backing from the local school, the doctor's surgery, the parish church and also Morecambe Police, who all claim the area is in desperate need of somewhere for children to play. But housing chief, Cllr Ian Barker said the housing plans were part of a package of measures to develop the whole of Morecambe. He said: "We've built a play area which we plan to expand but we can't afford to turn the whole site into a park. It's in nobody's interest to leave it in its present state. In two to three years we hope to do for Poulton what we have done in the West End. I'm disappointed the the residents are still making waves. The local community as a whole has welcomed the redevelopment of Morecambe."

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