A Shipley fairground will reopen next summer, despite fears it would have to close.

Paul Teale, who has run the Shipley Glen pleasure park for 38 years, gave fairground tenants the option to pull out after the future of its main feature, an aeriel glide, was put in jeopardy.

The fairground ride - Britain's oldest surviving park ride - is in a partly-demolished state.

But today he confirmed the tenants had agreed to stay.

Last month the Telegraph & Argus reported how Mr Teale was visited by police and Council officials when he started to demolish the aerial glide after it won Grade II-Listed building status.

He claimed at the time he knew nothing about the ride being listed until visiting officials broke the news to him and he stopped demolition work. Mr Teale said Bradford Council officials had left him in limbo.

He said of the reopening: "Of course we don't know what the full implications will be. We don't know what might happen but we are going to take it a step at a time.

"If it turns out that it is no longer viable then we each have a month's notice to say so. The intention is to open on March 7, 2004."

Mr Teale is still angry he was not told earlier about a campaign to get the aerial glide listed and claims he did not get a letter from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport telling him about the new status.

Mike Short, who lives opposite the park and submitted the bid for listed building status to English Heritage, said it was a tragedy that most of the attraction's track which carries the seats around the ride had been taken away, especially when campaigners thought they had done so well in saving it.

But Mr Teale said the ride was in a dangerous state before he started taking it down, claiming he found rusted, crumbling bolts holding it together.

"I was told by Bradford Council I could be fined up to £20,000 for taking it down but I would rather take that than fork out £50,000 to re-build it. I don't know who would be responsible for re-building it. I couldn't possibly afford to do it," he said.

An English Heritage spokesman said now the ride had listed status it was up to Bradford Council to make further comment on its future.

A spokesman for the Council's conservation department said he could not comment at this stage.