ULVERSTON risks being turned into a ghetto with "homeless people having rowdy parties" if plans to convert the former town hall into flats are approved, residents have warned.

ZONE A is a group of around 12 protesters who have vowed to fight against a proposed housing development which they believe will attract "the wrong type of people en masse" into Ulverston.

Not-for-profit South Lakes Housing, which provides affordable, rented accommodation to private tenants, has submitted a planning application to turn the Queen Street building into 18 one- and two-bedroom flats.

ZONE A chair Dr Roger Lindsay believes the development will be "very damaging to Ulverston".

A leaflet distributed by ZONE A states one of the problems with the plan is that "tenants may be young and single and let loose on Ulverston town centre".

"This is 100 yards from the town centre and it will create serious problems," Dr Lindsay, who is originally from Wolverhampton, said.


"If you live in a one-bedroom apartment and you're unemployed and on benefits the question is what do you do with your spare time? You go and hang about in the town centre and we get problems with drug use."

In the group's leaflet, ZONE A claim the flats would be used to house "homeless or single people" and argue "this sounds like a recipe for rowdy parties and antisocial behaviour".

Fellow protester Tina Balmer, who lives in Benson Street, admitted "we risk being called NIMBYs" but maintains she has "legitimate concerns".

"There has been quite a few different houses converted like this and where that happens you get a lot more police activity," she added.

When asked if she could appreciate why some might consider her views to be those of a "snob", Mrs Balmer, who moved to Ulverston from Sussex, said: "I can understand why people are saying I'm being a snob but people have different opinions."

A decision on the planning application is set to be reached by November 17.