PAVILION developers raised tensions with campaigners by demanding the withdrawal of a controversial comment from a website.

Howard Holdings says it is angered' by an allegation appearing on the OurWeymouth website.

The webite was set up by campaigners against the £100 million plan to redevelop the site by Howard Holdings and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.

A comment from the company says: Howard Holdings is demanding that a false comment attributed to a member of its team be removed from the Latest News' section of the ourweymouth.co.uk site.

The site claims that after the council meeting on Feb-ruary 9 a Howard Holdings representative... was heard to say they (the council) thought it was a bad deal but they didn't have any alternative'.

Howard Holdings is disappointed and angered by the allegation.' The strongly-worded statement will not ease relations between protesters and developers who disagree about the content and scale of the redevelopment.

Martin Jepson, managing director of Howard Holdings, said: "The community is getting a good deal, with £20 million of civic-provision plus affordable housing and comprehensive site restoration.

"As we said before in the Echo, we are happy to talk to people about the deal, we have previously gone on record saying that it is a good deal and it has been independently vetted by the council's valuers.

"We expect a retraction and demand that this falsehood be removed from the site immediately. It is our ambition to redress the balance, replacing conjecture and misinformation with fact."

However, the site moderator claims he has received no contact from the company and will only consider withdrawing the remark when he does.

Frank Peach, from Franchise Street, said: "Why haven't they contacted me instead of doing this through the press?

"My number is on the website so they can call anytime if they are unhappy about something.

"If they insist on me taking the comment off then of course I will because its no use being dogmatic about this as the comment can't be substantiated."

He added that the campaign against the masterplan would not be rocked off course by the demand.

"It does show that Howard Holdings is concerned about what ordinary members of the public are saying about its scheme and it is monitoring the site.

"We've nothing against Howard Holdings as a company, we just want the council to stop and think because they look hell-bent on driving this scheme forward."