There will be further talks about Talkin Tarn's future

A decision to sell the 185-acre Talkin Tarn Country Park, near Brampton, is being discussed following controversy over the way it was taken.

Labour councillors complained that the ruling Conservative/Liberal Democrat Alliance had gone a step further than the county's original intention.

The Labour members said they thought attempts were now being made to find ways of keeping the area in the public ownership.

The council's watchdog - the scrutiny committee - asked the cabinet to look again at its decision.

Health and safety

Labour councillor Barbara Cannon said she believed it could result in a reversal of the original decision.

She said: "Apart from the calling by the scrutiny committee, I am aware that the public were very concerned about what the cabinet were intending to do.

"I think we are going to find something different happening."

The Labour group has also claimed many of its members did not see the papers relevant to the decision to sell off the site.

The park, which is owned and managed by the county council, includes the 65-acre tarn, woodland and wetland, tea room, boating facilities, education room, grazing land, campsite and a hotel.

The council has said it is losing more than �30,000 a year and to bring it up to modern hygiene, disability access and health and safety standards would cost up to �750,000.