CAMPAIGNERS concerned about vegetation being cut back along Oxford's towpath have renewed calls for council contractors to take greater care.

Work is being carried out as part of the Riverside Route to City Centre scheme to upgrade pedestrian and cycle links.

But environmental campaigners say county council contractors have been cutting back too much vegetation and called on the authority to honour a pledge not to disturb wildlife if possible.

Last month conservationists met council leader Ian Hudspeth and presented him with a 585-name petition urging contractors to protect nesting birds as they work between Folly Bridge and Gasworks Bridge, with the scheme due to be completed next month.

But Sylvia Barker, 74, from Oxford, who helped to present the petition, claimed council staff were not being careful enough.

The pensioner, who works part time for Cutteslowe Community Association, said a tree with starlings nesting in it had been cut down.

She told council officers in an email: "A short while ago several of us stood on the Thames Path and had your explicit undertaking that anything beyond the three-metre wide cycle track would remain. This is not happening!

"We have no quarrel with the workmen carrying out the work but they should have been briefed correctly.

"As was agreed, the grass verges beyond the three-metre measurement were not only to be preserved for the wildlife, but for the enjoyment of residents and visitors, ramblers, the fishermen who embedded their rods in the grass, the children who went on nature rambles along the path, in short everyone who enjoyed the little strip of nature that made this stretch of the river unique."

Mrs Barker claimed that the views of conservationists who signed the petition has been 'disregarded'.

In a statement the council conceded a tree had been cut down but denied that nesting starlings had been disturbed, indicating they usually nested in April, not in July.

Council spokesman Martin Crabtree said: "We agreed that as far as possible we would maintain a green strip beyond the three-metre width of the towpath and that is what we are doing.

"We remain committed to retaining a green strip where possible as we discussed at our meeting in June and continue to take environmental and biodiversity issues seriously.

"As part of the work the team has to carry out excavations along the towpath to check for any problems which could result in slippage so that it can be put right and the towpath maintained in a safe condition. Doing this means that the green strip has to be dug up and, where this has happened and it is possible to do so, we reinstate it."

He added: "One tree was remove this week as it was causing structural damage to the towpath and wall. The tree was inspected on numerous occasions by a professional environmental advisor. A pigeon nest was observed which was found to be inactive. No other nests were identified."

In June Mr Hudspeth promised residents he would ask council officers to ensure that nesting birds were not being disturbed.

Work has already been completed along the towpath from Donnington Bridge to Folly Bridge.