A PLAN to knock down a filling station and nursery to make way for 41 new apartments in the centre of Morecambe is back on the agenda.

Lancaster firm First Base Homes wants to demolish the Save' station on Queen Street and build an apartment block.

It first came up with the blueprint last summer - when fierce opposition saw local people and garage customers ganging up to produce a 600-strong petition to save the business.

The scheme was rejected by Lancaster City Council's planning committee at the time - but has now been revised and re-submitted to the council.

Instead of 29 flats, the plan now sees 41 apartments on the site, along with ground floor parking, new access and landscaping.

Andrew Staynton, of First Base Homes, says the company aims to build housing to help increase confidence in the area and encourage investment.

Last August garage worker Flo Cartmell (pictured) said a decision to demolish the garage would be scandalous'.

Locals complained that First Base Homes' plan would mean the site would become over-developed and bring traffic chaos to the area.

A spokesman for Lancaster City Council says: "Prior to the application being placed the company had presented a package for the area beyond the filling station which would provide regeneration of the whole area.

"However, when the application came in solely for flats on the filling station site it was turned down and the applicants were asked to come back with a more suitable application.

"They have now come back with a new application for the site and land to the north, occupied by a county council nursery which is to be relocated as part of a separate proposal."

She says that the plan overcomes some of the problems with the previous project.

Dave Underwood, who run the garage business for 20 years, rents the plot of land it is built on. The landowner who has put it up for sale.