GREEN campaigners on both sides of the Wiltshire-Berkshire border have joined forces in a bid to stop a marina being built on the Kennet and Avon Canal near Froxfield.

West Berkshire Council has given outline consent for the marina at Freeman's Marsh, which objectors say will ruin the district's premier wetland site.

Protesters claim the plan for a 120 boat marina, 36 bedroom hotel, restaurant and car park will wreck the rural landscape between Froxfield and Hungerford.

There is concern that construction work and the marina could have an adverse effect on the River Dun that runs alongside the canal.

Objectors to the marina scheme have asked the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate West Berkshire's handling of the planning application, first given outline consent in 1993.

The Friends of Freeman's Marsh has been formed to fight the plans.

Its chairman Chris Ticehurst said: "There have always been strong reasons to object to the principle of such a large development in this sensitive situation, in a beautiful piece of country."

English Nature and the Environment Agency are supporting the Friends' allegation of maladministration and say the scheme could have an adverse influence on a Site of Special Scientific Interest.