FAIRLOP Waters is draining the council of more than £400,000 every year and an urgent plan is needed to save the 300 acre site.

Redbridge Council's cabinet considered the urgency of a short-term management plan to save Redbridge's treasured area of woodland, golf courses and lakes, with the guidance of local people.

Around 200 people and 22 community groups responding to a public consultation about Fairlop Waters flagged up the most important areas where they would like to see investment.

Top of the list is investment in a new children's play area, as well as a visitor and education centre, a new cafe, bird-watching hides, a swimming pool, picnic areas, cycle paths, a climbing area and a hotel.

Watersports on the sailing lake, fishing at the angling lake and golfing on the site's two golf courses are all popular activities which people want to keep, in addition to the country park with its thriving wildlife habitats.

However serious investment is needed. Cllr Ronnie Barden, cabinet member for leisure, culture and the olympics, states in the report: "The financial projections for this year are much worse than originally anticipated. This is due to the serious dilapidation of the facilities and a much reduced customer base. "An action plan is in place to reorganise the current staffing structure and to market the site more effectively. This means that the financial outturn for 2008/09 should be significantly improved."

Management of the site may be moved to Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure in the short-term as the council agreed to negotiate an 18 month contract while they devise a long-term plan for the site's development.

Fishing enthusiast David Poole told the cabinet: "I have seen what has happened to the site over many years of under investment. The proposed handover may once again end up costing the borough's residents dearly. They are purely interested in profit.

"It reallly needs to be run by the council and subsidised for the benefit of the residents of Redbridge."