COUNCILLORS have agreed in principle to dispose of the Humberston Fitties.
North East Lincolnshire Council's cabinet yesterday gave the green light for officers to approve the terms of a lease to Bourne Leisure.
However, the matter will now have to go before full council before a final decision is made.
Council leader Chris Shaw made the concession after hearing pleas by Fitties residents to put a halt on the sale.
Around 60 people packed into the Assembly Room at Grimsby Town Hall for yesterday's meeting.
Mandy Duckworth, treasurer of the Humberston Fitties Tenants' Association, said it did not make financial sense to sell the Fitties.
According to a council report, the revenue budget for the direct costs of the Fitties shows a surplus of £0.187m per annum – however, this does not include indirect costs associated with the site.
Ms Duckworth said: "Properly administered, Humberston Fitties provides the best return on investment within the authority. The ground rent provides 11 per cent of the council's net rental income and the site's services and utilities are self-funding with no cost or benefit to the taxpayer.
"The only costs borne by the council relate to areas not under the control of tenants which will remain irrespective of disposal. Why give these long-term profits away for short-term gain?"
She told the meeting a decision notice requiring all leases to have a common expiry date of 2021 was created in January 2013, almost two years after 129 leases which have still not been renewed expired.
She said: "Tenants are rightly concerned that officers' actions seem to have been designed to facilitate disposal with vacant possession in 2021, causing uncertainty and anxiety."
She added: "Humberston Fitties is a unique conservation area, not a caravan park. We would encourage the council to carry out an in-depth investigation as to the current problems, thus retaining both the site and profits for the benefit of all in North East Lincolnshire."
Paul Harwood, chairman of the Fitties Community Association (FCA) said councillors were being asked to sell a heritage asset on a "whim and a promise".
He told councillors: "The recommendations before you ask for your authority to actually complete a sale. When it is not even known what price you are likely to get for the sale, that is a big decision. He said the FCA's own proposal for managing the Fitties which would make it the "envy of the East Coast" totally paid for by grant funding, had been ignored.
"Please do not make an irreversible decision today without asking for all of the facts. Authorise officers to negotiate by all means but ask them to report on all the options first, including exploring options with us."
Council leader Mr Shaw said the authority was legally bound by the terms of a lease entered into by Cleethorpes Borough Council to offer Bourne Leisure first refusal of the site.
Speaking after the meeting, Mrs Duckworth said: "We are not surprised at the outcome but we are glad that it will go to full council."
Mr Harwood echoed her sentiments, saying the move was a "big step forward".
Do you agree with the council's sale of Humberston Fitties.