CELEBRITY steeplejack Fred Dibnah's plans to turn his garden into a tourist attraction have been kicked out by Bolton councillors.

And they branded his ambitious scheme to attract visitors to his home as "absurd".

A furious Fred said today: "If I was 25 years younger, I would leave this town this morning.

"There are places I go to up and down England where I am welcomed with open arms. But this is what I get in Bolton.

"I won't be appealing, it is a waste of time. Why should I bother putting this town on the map? It is about time there was a clear out at the town hall and we got rid of this lot - they are just full of hot air."

Councillors at the planning control sub committee unanimously threw out his proposals to create a heritage centre at his Radcliffe Road home. Fred's scheme, to build a refreshment room, toilets and a covered walkway for visitors, was labelled "highly dangerous". And councillors thought neighbours had already paid too high a price for the celebrity's steam engine activities.

Cllr Pauline Spencer said: "Visitors will be asked to sign a disclaimer as he will not be responsible for any accidents. This is clearly not a safe site for children." Cllr Tom Anderton added: "Fred has already made comments that these machines can rip your damned arm off! There is something wrong here."

Angry neighbours had written to Bolton Council objecting to the scheme which also included permission to change the grade two listed building. But when contacted by the BEN, an angry Fred hit back: "I wasn't going to open every day. All I was going to do was to show children how things used to be. There is nowhere in Bolton where children can see that now.

"All there is to see in Bolton is a load of butterflies, all our industrial heritage is at other museums like the Ironbridge Gorge Museum.

"If Hick Hargreaves ever goes, all that will be left in Bolton is a town full of shops.

"They say that this is dangerous - well so would their bloody steam engine in the town hall square be without glass around it. Nobody will be anywhere near the engines when they are working.

"They can't stop me having visitors in my own garden. I am not breaking any laws and I will just carry on as I am."

A report presented to councillors said that there could be up to 30 visitors a week. But planning restrictions had asked to curb visits by appointment only. However, Cllr Barbara Ronson criticised this as "peculiar" saying Bolton Council would find it impossible to police. She said: "You can't expect Fred to turn away a coach load of kids just because they don't have an appointment. "

Cllr Guy Harkin said: 'We should never make planning decisions on individuals or certain personalities.

"We wouldn't be entertaining this absurd application if it was anyone else."

Cllr John Hanscomb praised Fred Dibnah and said that his scrapyard was a valuable resource in terms of heritage.

"It's great. I hope it is not lost. But I cannot go along with this sort of proposal. There will be problems with this facility no matter how you change it."

And Cllr Peter Birch claimed Fred had already change the Radcliffe Road area. "He has made a lot of changes in the area by stealth. I think this is too much for the community to take on board."

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