BOAT yard owner Paul Lorenz is fighting to save Leigh's historic Bedford Basin from housing developers.

Owners and the Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs (AWCC) have backed his objections to plans to build 51 apartments, an access road, car parking, landscaping and boundary treatment in Derby Street, Leigh.

Mr Lorenz, who runs Lorenz Canal Services, and rescued the basin from dereliction, has lived on site for 27 years and is calling for it to remain an industrial area.

He feels residential development will cause conflict with existing industrial users, threaten secure moorings, be a danger to children, cause litter and create excess traffic.

He said: "Bedford Basin has been part of Leigh's heritage since 1857. We feel it is not appropriate for the development. Neighbouring factories work seven day weeks, 24 hour days with a lot of noise and vibration.

"As far as safety is concerned, in 1994 a child cycled into the canal from the towpath opposite the basin and was drowned. Three years later my wife, Gabrielle, dived in to save a three-year-old who had fallen in.

Keith Noble, of the AWCC, said: "To provide a residential area alongside the industry of the basin would produce a situation that would suit neither section of society."

A council spokesman said members of the development control committee would visit the site on Tuesday before discussing the application at a meeting at Wigan Town Hall the same day.