FURIOUS villagers have been left in shock by a decision to send in the bulldozers and smash down a dilapidated landmark to make room for a 650-home retirement village.

The former Pontins holiday camp at Middleton will be transformed into homes with leisure facilities and its own shopping centre.

The £100 million masterplan by CJ Homes was passed by Lancaster City planners on Monday in a decision that villagers label as unbelievable'.

The 240-plus villagers say it will spell the death of village life.

The sheer scale of the retirement development will swamp the village as it stands today, says Barbara Williams, clerk of Middleton Parish Council.

"We are very disheartened because we have fought the plans for more than five years," she told the Citizen.

"Everyone in the village signed a petition against it and we even conducted a march down the promenade against it. Nobody in the village wants it.

"To say we are disappointed is an understatement but we have fought it for so long that we have got to the point where there is nothing else we can do."

She says residents have a number of concerns including the fact that the lane to the former holiday camp is narrow and already dangerous without 650 extra homes at the bottom of it.

Barbara adds: "There are 240 houses in Middleton, one post office and one pub. It will do the pub good but after that we cannot see one single benefit.

"Lancaster City Council has turned down a number of plans for retirement homes in the area over the past few months because they say they are not required but here is one for 650 homes it is unbelievable."

Lancashire County Council's emergency planning committee is worried that the development lies within the emergency planning zones around Heysham Power Stations.

It says it is concerned about the ability of the road to handle traffic in an emergency evacuation.

A spokesman for CJ homes told the Citizen that the company was very happy' that the plan has been approved.

But she says: "We can't start work at the site until a number of additional details are submitted and passed. The time scale of development depends on how quickly that happens."

The new look site will also include a library, recreation and visitor accommodation plus leisure facilities such as a bowling green.