A long-running planning battle to keep a historic Leigh heritage site open has finally been won.

Strand Wharf - named in Leigh folklore as the starting point for the Pilgrim Fathers' trip to America on board the Mayflower - has been returned to public ownership.

Southend councillors, developers Mirencliff and the boss of Mike's Boatyard Colin Sedgwick have finally agreed a deal which safeguards public access and fishermen's rights to use the historic site.

For more than five years, a battle has been waged by heritage campaigners against proposals to build a restaurant on the wharf.

Last year, a special deal was clinched which allowed Strand Wharf leaseholders Mirencliff to develop their restaurant plans at another spot in the Old Town.

Finally, after months of technical negotiations, the deal has been agreed and the Strand Wharf lease has been surrendered to Southend Council.

Liberal Democrat Leigh councillor Peter Wexham - a key campaigner to keep the wharf free of development - said he was delighted.

He said: "I've been discussing with officers about getting the wharf cleared and it should happen fairly quickly, getting the sheds down and cleaning up the rubbish.

"Alan Crystall, chairman of the council's development control sub-committee, is talking with planners about arranging an archaeological dig.

"The history of the wharf certainly features on paper from the 14th century.

"The main thing is to make sure that the wharf is there for public access as well as for the fishermen in the Old Town."

The deal means work could begin as soon as possible on converting Mike's Boatyard into the Mirencliff restaurant.

Colin Sedgwick's business will relocate along the High Street into the old Tepco warehouse.

A working party of interested groups led by former town councillor Mike King will meet in a fortnight to draw up proposals to ensure the wharf is safeguarded for future generations.

Mr King said the working party's aim was to set up a charitable trust in charge of the wharf which would "absolutely and totally safeguard" public access to the site.

Safe from development - it might not look like much, but archaeologists believe the silt around Strand Wharf could reveal many secrets from Leigh's history

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.