THE controversial Barracks Lodge saga is back on the agenda.

Developers Stately Homes have resubmitted plans for a housing scheme which involves the filling of the lodge at the rear of Newington Drive, Bury, a plan described as "ecologically destructive" by objectors.

Although the new proposals centre around the creation of 11 new properties rather than 16, Bury's planning chiefs are again expected to oppose the proposal at their meeting on Thursday night (Jan 18).

Barracks Lodge has, according to local protestors, been systematically destroyed as a wildlife haven since Stately Homes acquired the land. The original re-development scheme was scheduled for a public inquiry in 1999 after Stately Homes appealed against the local authority's decision to refuse planning permission for the housing project.

At the 11th hour, Stately pulled out of the inquiry leaving local ecologists fearing that the company would bide its time and carry out more work on the lodge which, objectors claim, has turned the land around the pond into a wasteland.

The company defended its work claiming that the removal of trees and shrubbery and the reduction of the water level were all part of essential maintenance.

However, leading campaigner and local environmentalist Mr Mick Wellock labelled the work as "environmental vandalism" which put a rich variety of wildlife, including frogs, toads and the internationally protected great crested newt, at risk.

Adding its weight to Mr Wellock's bid to save the lodge was the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit's decision to designate the pond as a Grade A site of biological importance.

One of the recommendations supporting a refusal of the scheme is that the development would lead to the destruction of the Grade A site.