A DRAFT development brief was to be presented to Lancaster City Council's cabinet on Tuesday with the aim of formalising what mixed use' may mean with regard to the regeneration of The Midland Hotel and the adjacent site.

In other words, cabinet, council and public are to determine what and how Urban Splash may build here in keeping with approved plans to restore and re-open The Midland as a working hotel.

Restoration of this neglected Grade Two listed building and its environs is of national as well as local concern. Much has been done already to indicate the logic that must dictate the nature of this crucial phase in Morecambe's revitalisation.

A magnificent promenade incorporating sea-defences is matched in quality by the Tern Project, the poem footpath, stone jetty and Eric Morecambe mem-orial - tourist attractions of high quality and popularity.

While I applaud a list of uses for the former Bubbles area that includes food and drink, leisure and recreation, arts and entertainment and additional hotel accommodation, it is illogical and unnecessary to accept any office and residential use. Plenty of housing is being regenerated in off-prom areas of the town.

The Midland and its environs are the epicentre of Morecambe's tourism and we have the chance to finish the job with confidence and style. Morecambe, Lancaster and the North West will benefit in the long term from a full-blooded commitment to a rich array of leisure and tourist features on the central promenade.

I urge Lancaster City Council and The North West Development Agency to commit what will be largely public money wholeheartedly to what can be the most exciting, imaginative phase in Morecambe's revitalisation by forbidding any office or residential use of this site and urging Urban Splash to present plans that match the vision for the promenade.

Ray Wilcockson, Morecambe.