A WILDLIFE haven in the heart of Accrington is being auctioned off for just a few thousand pounds.

Plantation Waters, just one mile from Plantation Road, includes two former reservoirs that once served the town.

Owners United Untilities has now put the picturesque site up for auction with a knock-down guide price of between £1,000 and £5,000 because it is ‘surplus to requirements’.

UU said it would cost millions to bring the reservoirs up to modern water standards - and would only supply modern Accrington with water for seven-and-a-half minutes.

The four-acre site, accessed by a public footpath off Plantation Road is described as ‘two areas of open water with land’ by Pugh Property Vendors and Auctioneers which has featured the lot on its website.

However, the sale has caused concern over the site’s future as councillors and environmentalists hope it will remain untouched.

Members of environmental charity Prospects and local councillors said the site was home to bats as well as deer.

Coun Miles Parkinson said: “We are just hoping that whoever takes on the site is someone that will help keep the wildlife as it is.

“It is incredible to have that sort of green space just yards from terraced houses.

"It is hard to see what use it could be put.”

Prospects officer Gemma Tomlinson said: “It has caused a lot of concern and the main hope is that we get lucky and the site is used for environmentally friendly purposes.

"The ideal scenario is that an angling club or something similar decide to take ownership of it for the fishing rights.”

A spokesman for United Utilities said that keeping and maintaining the site for its former use would ‘see water bills rocket’.

He said: “The reservoirs haven’t been used for 25 years.

"EU regulations are much stricter now and it would cost £70 milion to bring the site up to standard.

"We appreciate local concerns but the site has no services such as sewers or an electricity supply so major development would be unlikely.”