CAMPAIGNERS for Central Park in Morecambe are at loggerheads with councillors over a bid to hold emergency summit talks to halt the controversial sale of Altham Road Meadow. About 11 councillors have rallied together amid calls for a special council meeting to defer the sale of the land which has now been incorporated into the Central Park for Morecambe campaign. But the emergency meeting, which requires special civic permission from the council's treasurer, has received a hostile reception from members of the Campaign for Central Park committee who say it's a premature step.

Campaign spokesman Hazel Midgley said: "An enormous amount of effort is being put in to prepare a bid for Millennium funding and whilst a great deal of progress has been made already there is still a huge amount of work still to be done. The last thing we want at this stage is the council discussing Central Park prematurely."

But the band of eleven councilllors say the meeting will buy time to allow the organisers of the park to meet the mid September deadline to bid for funding from the Millennium Commission.

Cllr Dexter Bracey said: "We want to stop the sale and we are asking for a resolution from the council so it can be deferred to put a bid forward to the Millennium Commission. Then the park can then become a reality."

Cllr Carol Broad said they hoped the meeting would be held on September 11.

She said: "We don't want to scrap the chance to save the field.

"This way everyone can see the plans and any confusing opinions over them can be cleared up."

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