WILDLIFE enthusiasts and residents are up in arms over a plan to fill in part of the disused Taylor Nicholson lodge (dam) with building rubble to provide "roosting areas for wildlife" - at a site they say is already teeming with fish, animals and birds. The site, off Mather Road, Bury, is the subject of a planning application that proposes to in-fill the lodge to reduce its water depth. Opposing the idea is RALI - Residents Against the Lodge Infill - which has already circulated news of its opposition to people living in the area.

The RALI leaflet says: "The lodge is already a refuge for wildlife."

It also poses questions, asking: "What about the fish? Will they be replaced, because they will not survive an infill? Will there be a further threat of pollution once the infill is completed? And will the landscape be affected in any way?"

The plan, says RALI, is to tip an estimated10,000 cubic metres of rubble into the lodge to reduce the water level to approximately three feet.

Three islands will be created - thus reducing the lodge's size - and the operation will take anything up to two years.

Even worse, the applicant suggests draining the lodge in order to tip and if the plan goes ahead there is no legal obligation to refill once the water is lost.

RALI estimates that the proposed infill will employ ten HGVs five days a week for between one and two years.

But now the lodge's owner Patrick Robert Slattery of Windacre, Mather Road, has circulated his own leaflet headlined B.A.L.L.S - which stands for Bringing Alive Local Lodge Sanctuary.

In his leaflet he states: "You may recently have seen a circular, as I did myself, in connection with a planning application to convert my lodge into a safe haven for especially waterfowl but bird-life in general.

"At first sight I thought I cannot take this seriously, the authors are obviously not people of strong convictions as they have not even signed it; apart from which it is full of red-herrings and inaccuracies.

"Therefore I have no alternative but to put forward my point of view to make sure that you see the other side of the coin and think seriously before making any rash judgements."

He then lists several answers to RALI's questions and accusations -including those about access for HGV's, about the lodge being drained and about his commercial gain.

"Ten heavy goods vehicles per day (A RED HERRING). The area designated for receiving the in-fill is already of commercial use and as such has unlimited vehicular access, irrespective of weight or size.

"Draining the lodge. The lodge is private property and should I deem it unsafe because of water depth etc., it will be drained off and fenced anyway."

And about commercial gain he concludes: "Yes, I will profit from this venture but then I will also entail a lot of expense in repairing and renovating all the broken and overgrown banks etc.; unless of course RALI would like to club together and re-imburse me for the cost of the work involved."

One angry local resident said: "Mr Slattery is just being pig-headed by trying to justify his actions.

"I really don't see why he can't leave this beautiful haven for wildlife alone. Before long, with people like him about there won't be any beauty spots left.

"Anyway what is the point in him doing all of this work to give us back what we've already got? Whatever the outcome, I feel sure that it is not just from the goodness of his heart - that's if he's got one."

But Patrick replied: "If all these people keep on winding me up and stop me getting planning permission I will just go ahead and fence and drain the lodge if I want to.

"They really will have something to complain about then, when all they will see is a dirty great big hole.

"And after all it's my lodge, my home and my environment."

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