ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners are outraged that a Hindley Green oasis has been denied village green status.

Residents had applied for the Belvedere Farm site to be designated a village green to stave off housing development.

The application was part crusade crusade to keep the 'green' in Hindley Green.

A disappointed Sue Vickers, one of the leading campaigners, said: "The decision benefits the landowners, the developers and more significantly Wigan Council. It certainly does not benefit the community which has used this land for over 20 years -- and, in some instances, since the 1940s."