MOBILE home residents fighting council plans to sell off their park have moved a step closer to success.

A borough council committee asked to re-examine the plan for Attwood Close in Basingstoke has recommended the park should remain under council ownership.

Members of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's sustainable communities overview committee meeting on Thursday heard of bad experiences from other privatised mobile home parks They backed a motion from Councillor John Shaw, who is against the sell-off, by six votes to four.

Cllr Shaw said the council should retain and continue to manage the site, as well as set up a panel from the committee to work with Attwood Close residents.

Cllr Shaw said: "This is the best option. Even with the best efforts of the council, problems could still arise."

The Cabinet will now make a final decision on December 5, and Cllr Shaw said residents ought to be told by Christmas where they stood.

The overview committee was asked to re-examine the options after protests persuaded the borough Cabinet to backtrack from its original decision to sell the park.

The committee voted against the recommendation made in a report from Karen Brimacombe, corporate director, that selling the site was the best of five possible courses of action.

Mrs Brimacombe said the site, which was granted permanent planning permission to stay as a mobile home site on November 9, needed full-time professional management and the council did not have the resources.

Many Attwood Close residents attended the meeting and councillors were shown a video of a BBC documentary in which mobile home owners spoke about the intimidation on sites taken over by private landlords.

Ron Joyce, general secretary of the Park Home Residents Action Alliance, an association that seeks to represent park homeowners, attended the meeting.

He said: "Unfortunately, these cases are not isolated ones.

"I would desperately plead with the council not to sell this site to a private owner."

But Cllr Phil Heath said there was no certainty for tenants even with council ownership.'