DEVELOPERS who cut down trees in a Lymm field - which they have not yet received planning permission to build on - have been told that the cutting must stop.

Officers at Warrington Borough Council were alerted early on Friday morning last week, when concerned residents reported that two rowan trees had been chopped down on land behind the Farmer's Arms pub on the corner of Rushgreen Road and Sandy Lane.

After consulting with council officers, developer Antler Homes North West immediately agreed to stop the felling. The borough council later issued tree preservation orders.

A spokesman for the council said: "There was no offence committed initially and the trees were not protected by an order, nor were they in a conservation area.

"Officers went to the site and discussed it with contractors who were developing the site and agreed that the trees should be retained as a feature for Lymm."

Lymm councillor Ian Marks said he was extremely pleased that the felling had stopped and that the future of the trees had been secured.

"They are not the most beautiful trees but they are part of the landscape of the area," Clr Marks said.

"They may have only cut down two trees, but who knows how many more they would have cut?

"It is the principle of the thing more than anything else. How can any developer, when he knows how sensitive this is to the area, just go ahead with the work? It is beyond belief."

Ian Sanderson, managing director of Antler Homes, said that the company had no problems in complying with the preservation orders.

"We want to work in accordance with the local authority," he said.

A planning application to build 17 homes on the land was lodged with Warrington Borough Council last month.