The owners of the Frontierland site have reassured residents they will not throw away a much-loved set of community paintings when fencing is replaced around the land.
Lancaster City Council said they want to preserve the dozens of paintings by members of the public which adorn the hoardings around the derelict former Wild West theme park in Morecambe.
This came after Bob Pickersgill, who started the community art project on the Marine Road West site, said he feared for the future of the paintings when the council replaces the wooden fencing later this year.
Mr Pickersgill said he'd been told the paintings would end up in a skip.
But the leader of the council said they will only be removed "temporarily".
LISTEN to our interview with Bob Pickersgill in response to what the council said
Mr Pickersgill created the first painting on the blue hoardings outside the former fairground in 2020 to raise awareness of the state of the land.
Since then other artists and photographers have joined in to create a colourful mural full of images of people, landmarks and events.
The 100th painting, celebrating the town's weekly Parkrun fun run on the promenade, went up on the 600ft long fencing last year.
Mr Pickersgill, posting on Facebook on Sunday, said: "I received a call from Lancaster City Council this week telling me they have a plan to replace the wooden hoardings with the metal hoardings similar to those on the furthest end of the prom from Aldi.
"This means that most of the paintings are too large to go on them.
"(There were) no suggestions that the council would put the paintings back up. Their plan is that it is a safety precaution as some of the panels recently came down in the wind.
"They cared little about this when Morrisons owned the property as boards have been coming off the structure for years.
"At this time they still have no plans for the use of the land.
"The artists have tried to improve the vision of the town. It's now going to be ruined again. I guess the panels are going to be there for another 25 years. For any artists wishing to keep their work, I suggest you remove it."
But Councillor Phillip Black, leader of Lancaster City Council, said "it has always been the council's intention that the artworks are preserved".
"The artworks that have been fixed to the hoardings are emblematic of the pride that people have in our town and reflect the local artistic talent we have in our community," said Councillor Black.
"I’d like to thank all those councillors in Morecambe who contacted me over the weekend to bring this story to my attention, particularly Councillor Joanne Ainscough, as it provides me with the opportunity to clarify the situation.
“It has always been the council’s intention that the artworks are preserved and there has never been any suggestion that they are just thrown away.
“The problem we have is that the blue wooden hoardings are in a very poor state, are regularly damaged by the weather, and continually require emergency repairs.
“There is a risk that the panels could blow down completely this winter when the stormy weather hits and cause damage or injury, which is something we obviously want to avoid.
“As a result, we are looking to replace them with something that’s more robust.
“We know how much people enjoy the artworks and while they will need to be temporarily removed while the replacement hoardings are erected, we absolutely want to see them replaced."
The Frontierland Wild West theme park closed in 2000 and the land has been disused ever since.
The city council bought the eyesore land from Morrisons in 2021. They have asked for 'expressions of interest' from developers, hoping to bring the land back into use.
"Expressions of Interest to develop the site were received earlier this year and we are excited to be furthering our plans for the site in the coming months," said Councillor Black.
Mr Pickersgill started work on the first painting in January 2020, of the town's most famous daughter, the late TV and film actress and comedienne Dame Thora Hird.
Artists from the Morecambe-based Good Things Collective, who were planning to create murals around the town, then produced some work to go alongside Bob's painting of Thora, and the rest followed.
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