A CLOUD of uncertainty continues to hang over a pioneering hotel project in Christchurch, after councillors put off taking a crucial make or break decision.

Developers eager to start work on the long-delayed £3 million scheme at Wick Ferry, on the site of the former Pontins holiday camp, will now have to wait until the end of June to see if the borough council will budge on its initial planning conditions for the site.

If not, the whole project - seen as a vital tourism lifeline for the town's faltering economy - could be put in jeopardy.

Bournemouth-based Main Leisure Holdings won planning approval for the site last year, with a design for a 59-bed, three-storey facility called Hotel Echelon, which would spawn around 60 new jobs.

It was due to be the flagship for a new series of purpose-built hotels designed to cater fully for disabled as well as able-bodied guests, with sensory gardens, larger bedrooms, and wider corridors all included in the design.

However, the scheme has fallen way behind schedule and is stuck in limbo because of the original planning agreement, which forbids housing developer Prowting selling all the new homes constructed on adjacent land until the hotel is "substantially completed".

The authority was due to consider altering the conditions at its latest meeting, but borough solicitor David Fairbairn told the Echo: "In light of new information received, the matter has been deferred until the full council meeting on June 25."

Work on the hotel is expected to take nine to 12 months to complete, and Main Leisure operations director Mike Grimsdale said the company was keen to have it ready for business for the summer 2003 season, if possible.

He added: "We have wasted months on this already.

"We just want to get moving and start something which Christchurch wants and has been asking for for some time."