Plans to move Harris War Memorial in Preston branded 'highly disrespectful.'

The monument, which honours the 17 former pupils killed during the First World War, will be uprooted and re-sited on Garstang Road, outside the orphanage grounds, if the scheme is approved.

But Prema Taylor, one of the leaders of the Friends of Harris Park, says such a move would make the Grade II Listed memorial vulnerable to traffic emissions and effectively bans the public from future access to the site.

The fresh plans for housing development on Harris Park were submitted to Preston Council earlier this month following a similar application which was thrown out a year ago.

The new scheme would see 16 executive homes built on a former cricket pitch at the rear of the orphanage - where England and Lancashire star Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff learned to play the game as a youngster,

Three more homes would be constructed on the front of the orphanage site close to the original Listed buildings.

Campaigners say one of the buildings, Clayton House, would be converted into nine apartments. And the former conference centre would be spit into three town houses, with several other buildings upgraded for residential occupation.

"If you look more carefully into the plans, the total number of dwellings planned in actually 39," said Prema. "Only the most sensitive alterations will not have a detrimental effect on the nature of the buildings."

She added that it was "baffling" that the new applications had been submitted so soon after other plans for renovating the listed properties which were put in just three weeks earlier in mid-November.

On the issue of moving the war memorial, she said that not only was the plan "highly disrespectful," but it suggested the site would be permanently off limits to the public.

The Friends of Harris Park have recently submitted an application for a Right of Way into the grounds which has yet to be determined.

The orphanage was built in 1888 with money left to Preston by benefactor Edmund Robert Harris. It closed as a children's home in 1982 and the buildings were taken over by Preston Polytechnic - later to become the University of Central Lancashire.

It was sold to the wealthy Bhailok family in 2006 for £6m. Campaigners recently urged Preston Council to buy it and preserve it on behalf of the city.