The famous Victorian Shipley Glen tramway is heading for closure.

And a funfair on land at the top of the hillside cable railway could be sold off for housing as a result.

The tramway - highlighted as an important attraction in Bradford's Capital of Culture bid - will take its last passengers on Saturday.

Mick Leak, who leases the Bradford Council-owned tramway which has been under threat of closure for the past three years, today said "enough is enough".

And pleasure-ground owner Paul Teale said he feared he would go bankrupt without the support of the tramway which runs visitors up to the glen and was looking at the option of selling out to a housing developer.

The threat to the two attractions has led protesters to collect more than 800 signatures for a petition to stop the fun fair site being given residential status.

Mr Leak said numerous factors affected his decision to stop running the tramway, including an expected bill of more than £2,500 for public liability insurance, a 30 per cent annual drop in income every year since 1999 and a fall in visitor numbers. He said last year's foot-and-mouth epidemic was also a major factor.

Mr Leak said the tramway was his and wife Maureen's life for more than 20 years and apologised to people in Bradford for his decision.

In 1999, a trust called the Glen Tramway Preservation Company was set up to try to ensure the future of the tourist attraction.

"Since the trust was set up we have not had any support because it has not yet been given charitable status," he said.

"My lease ran out in Easter and the Council let it run on but three months ago we handed in our notice.

Nothing has been done.

"It's so sad for the people in Bradford who have come here for generations and now the fun fair could be going too.

"Bradford Council promised it would support me on this one but I can't carry on like this."

Paul Brookes, director of Bradford's Capital of Culture 2008 bid, said he was disappointed to hear about the tramway's closure.

"We would like to see a long-term survival plan for the site as a visitor attraction as it is part of our bid," he said.

"But if the tramway were to survive and houses were built at a later date on the site of the fun fair we would be concerned about the effect this would have on the tramway."

Mr Teale, who took over the fairground in 1966, said he was forced to consider selling the land with outline planning permission for homes to ensure his future.

"The planning application for change of use is my contingency plan," he said.

"The fair and the tramway go hand in hand, we are inter-dependent, and if one goes it's the end of the road for the other."

Campaigner Cathy Richardson-Roberts, of Prod Lane, Baildon, whose five-year-old daughter Beth is a regular at the fun fair, said the plan was 'ludicrous'.

"It would have a devastating effect on the whole of Shipley Glen and loads of children who live up here go there regularly," she said.

She said the fair was home to a number of historical features, including the aerial glide ride which was built in 1900 and is the oldest of its kind operating in the country. It also boasts swing-boats and the penny arcade.

Protester Mike Short, who was a regular visitor as a child and now lives opposite the park, said: "It's not just children who enjoy the fair, it's the parents and grandparents who come up here to reminisce over the great times they had as children on the glen."

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, whose executive portfolio includes leisure, said she hoped the tramway would not have to close.

"The Council is looking into supporting the tramway and we hope to keep it running," she said.

"We are doing our level best to support it. It's part of our industrial heritage and we don't want it to close."