THE fight to save the "lifeblood" of Tottington has stepped up a gear as residents, councillors and traders launch a Save Our Village Campaign.

As reported in the Bury Times, the main car park in Tottington situated behind the Robin Hood pub in Market Street has been turned into pay and display by the Greene King Pub company to stop the "abuse" of the private car park and discourage long-term parking.

One week after the charges came into force residents and traders are already referring to Tottington as a "ghost town" as customers boycott the car park which now charges 50p for 30mins, £1 for one hour, £2 for two hours, £3 for three hours and £10 for more than four hours - £6.50 more than motorists pay for all-day shopping in Bury town centre.

The charges have been met with fury from villagers and traders who claim to have already seen a significant drop in business since the charges came into practice. The machine has reportedly been vandalised twice with superglue and businesses are reporting falls of up to a third in takings.

Shop windows are now displaying Save Our Village campaign posters and leaflets are being handed out to customers to make them aware of the situation. More than 2,000 protest signatures have also been collected and handed over to the brewery by Bury North MP David Chaytor, who has written to the chief executive of Greene King, Rooney Anand, to express the village anger.

But ward councillors have announced a meeting is being set up with representatives from Greene King. Tottington councillor Yvonne Wright said: "We are very optimistic about this meeting and have a good few proposals to put on the table so we are feeling confident. This is a big breakthrough as at first they were ignoring us so we feel hopefully we are getting somewhere. This is not just a pub car park - it is Tottington's car park."

Greene King took over the lease for the land 14 months ago where there was an arrangement in place to provide the community with car parking for a nominal fee paid by Bury Council. When that lease expired, the brewery withdrew the arrangement with the council. The charges are in place 24-hours a day, including Sundays and Bank Holidays, and customers caught without a ticket face fines of £100, reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days. Customers to the Robin Hood will be reimbursed for their parking costs if they spend £5 at the pub while shoppers to the Co-op will receive one hour free parking.

In his letter to Mr Anand, Mr Chaytor asks the brewery to reconsider the decision to terminate the original lease with the council. He said: "The decision has put the local management of the Robin Hood in an impossible position and created serious difficulties for other small businesses in the village. It has also served to undermine the reputation of the Greene King brewery within the community and this cannot be in the company's long term interests."

Speaking on behalf of the Tottington traders, Karen Stapleton, of Sandra Frank Interiors in Market Street, said: "We are concerned about the domino effect. If shops end up closing, the village will be boarded up which attracts the problems of vandalism and young children congregating which is already an issue for residents.

"It is not just losing the car park, it will have a major effect on the village and it will die."

A spokesperson for Greene King said: "We are looking forward to meeting with the ward councillors to discuss parking in the village and we hope that we can agree a satisfactory and amicable outcome for everyone."

Visitors to Tottington are still able to park for free using the public car parks next to Carmellos in Chapel Street and in Harwood Crescent, off Harwood Road.