'Whim' costs taxpayer 46,000 pounds

BLACKPOOL Council faces a £46,000 bill to meet the cost of opposing a bid to give Bispham gala field town green status, it has been revealed.

Following a hearing in April, it was decided there was not enough evidence to prove the land had been used continuously for sport and leisure for at least 20 years.

That meant the application by the Ley Farm Friends failed.

The council had objected because it feared the move would interfere with its management of organised events on the land such as the annual gala.

But it has emerged that opposing the bid has cost the taxpayer £46,000.

Now the ward councillor and portfolio holder for tourism and regeneration, Coun Maxine Callow, has hit out at the campaigners – claiming their application has been a waste of time and money.

She said: "A whim of one woman and 10 other people has cost Blackpool Council £46,000.

"I'm not against people doing this, but you should have to collect a lot of signatures before an application can go ahead.

"That £46,000 could have been better spent on filling in pot holes, or on care homes, or on vulnerable people or it could have paid for a teacher for two years.

"There was a vote last year at full council that said this area must be kept green and it's in the town plan so there was no need to make this application."

But Beverley Moy (pictured), of the Leys Farm Friends, said 60 people, not just 10, had signed the application.

If it had succeeded it could have prevented supermarket chain Asda from going ahead with a building project on a strip of land adjacent to Warren Drive.

She said: "There were 60 people who filled in a witness statement and that surely is what democracy is about.

"The amount of open space we have in Blackpool is very limited.

"There is only one town in Britain with less open space, which is Plymouth.

"So of course it is worth fighting for these areas of Blackpool."

Mrs Moy added that she was not intending to make any further applications for town green status.

Blackpool Council's legal department has confirmed the cost of defending the application had so far cost £45,000 with another £1,000 expected to be spent on finalising the matter.

The Blackpool Town Hall hearing was held in front of Rhodri Price Lewis, QC, but Blackpool Council had to call on Stockport Council to ratify his recommendations.