MORECAMBE'S troubled annual carnival could be ruined by council red tape.

Carnival chiefs say the August charity festival, which has been running for almost a century, could be crippled by new restrictions.

They have been told:

Hot food retailers and fairground rides will not be allowed at the arena venue following complaints from local traders -- including the former Frontierland theme park.

Floats will be barred from the traditional parade on the promenade because of weight restrictions.

They will be charged between £500 and £1,000 for road closures.

Committee secretary Margery Buck told the Citizen: "We're blocked every way we try to go.

"We've been told we will have to take lorries off at the Winter Gardens. We did that last year, because the police were called away to an emergency, and everyone thought the carnival had ended.

"We were told that we can't have any hot foods. Last year we had a woman making Chinese food, and she did so well that she gave us an extra donation as well as what she paid for the stall.

Margery complained that they would not even be able to provide the traditional bouncy castle for the children.

"That's because someone who has a bouncy castle concession complained, and we aren't allowed to have a fairground, because Frontierland complained.

"Yesterday morning I actually asked myself 'what's the point in all of this.'

Because so many people have put such a lot of work into the carnival organisers are determined to plough on but it's feared all this will reduce the amount of cash available to donate to charity.

"We already had our lowest donation ever of £400 last year, because we were down on the collection," explained Margery.

"We've never had problems like this before. I can only think it is because of the political party who are in power now. I always though the Morecambe Bay Independents were for Morecambe.

"I think we are being made to pay for Blobby."

Treasurer Betty Ford, a long time carnival organiser who remembers attending the annual festival before the Second World War, was also angry with the council's attitude.

She added: "The carnival brings people into the town. They spend money and they stay all day. We've certainly had support from shopkeepers on the promenade."

A city council spokesman said: "The council has always been co-operative and in the past, has given help and support to the carnival.

"I am not aware of any change in policy, but we will be looking into this further."

Although records are sketchy, Morecambe's first carnival is believed to have been in 1902 when King Edward VII came to confer borough status. It has continued ever since, with only a break for the war years intervening