NEIGHBOURS are calling on council planning bosses to ensure protected trees are handled with care when a 17th century stone track is relaid in Culcheth.

The reconstruction of Culcheth Hall Barns is continuing apace - but developers August Blake have found they need to build a series of steps allowing access to the western face of the project.

Duck cobbles salvaged from an historic road, running between the barns and properties to the rear of Culcheth Hall Drive, will then be replaced on a road between 60 to 70 centimetres lower down.

But residents are concerned about the engineering work's impact on a series of sycamores, covered by tree protection orders nearby.

Work should be delayed until late autumn, to minimise the environmental impact, they contend.

And it must be completed using hand tools opposed to heavy plant equipment, as per the borough's own tree conservation guidelines.

Drive spokesman Frank Waring said: "All we are saying is if this work has to be done then it should be done at the end of October."

Because the specimens, clustered in two or three copses, are shallow-rooted, he fears any reconstruction would affect the trees' health.

Council planning bosses have tried to reassure residents about any potential impact on the trees.

John Groves, the borough council's development control manager, said: "There is a line of trees, subject to tree preservation orders, outside the development site within the gardens of houses on Culcheth Hall Drive.

"None of the trees are proposed for removal as part of the development and will continue to benefit from tree protection legislation - including liability of the developer to be fined if trees are damaged or felled.

"The re-laying of a historic stone track beneath the canopy of the trees is to be undertaken as a result of a request by the Council for the Protection of Rural England, which should not prejudice the trees' root systems.

"Hand digging is likely to be used, in combination with some limited use of plant, in accordance with a method statement prepared by the developer, August Blake, and its landscape consultants."