ALLOWING a private company to take control of Humberston Fitties would be "wrong" and "destroy its character", according to residents.
North East Lincolnshire Council is currently looking at various options for the future of the site, and has offered Bourne Leisure Ltd – the owners of Thorpe Park – first refusal on the leasehold.
But residents of the Fitties, dozens of whom turned up at the council's Regeneration, Environment and Housing Scrutiny Panel to air their views, say a private investor would not be best placed to protect it for the future.
Speaking on behalf of chalet residents, Paul Harwood, chairman of Fitties' Owners Residents' Association Bungalow (Forab), said: "Bourne Leisure is a very professional and well-respected organisation which could certainly capitalise on an influx of visitors to the Fitties, but they exist solely to satisfy the interest of their own customers.
"The Fitties, on the other hand, is, and always has been, a community asset which exists primarily for the enjoyment of the general public and has never in its 200-year history been considered as a commercial venue.
"While we applaud Thorpe Park for its commitment to customer care, it is the wrong organisation in which to entrust the future of one of North East Lincolnshire's major community assets and would merely open the doors to the Fitties becoming a commercial venture."
A select committee formed to look at the future of the site made 10 recommendations to Cabinet back in January.
These included considering its future "management or disposal", clamping down on design of chalets and carrying out a new flood-risk assessment.
All of the recommendations will be discussed by Cabinet on October 14, when a decision will be made.
The scrutiny panel has urged Cabinet to consider offering the sale or lease of the site to a wider range of companies and community groups, rather than focusing solely on Bourne Leisure.
This includes looking at a takeover by residents, who believe they should be allowed to manage the site.
Paul added: "The Fitties has never been about money, it is about providing an experience, a memory of Grimsby that visitors never forget.
"Confining it to the hands of commercial enterprise is not the way forward.
"It is totally in line with the Communities Act that the Fitties should become self-regulating.
"Such a proposal would continue to maintain the character of the area, including the accessibility of the public because it would be in the residents' own interests to do so.
"Fitties residents should be asked to undertake a feasibility study with regards to forming a management company to take on the site on terms similar to those which have been proposed for Bourne Leisure."
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