A GROUP set up to protect a local beauty spot fear the site will be neglected after council officials decided to move gardeners to another part of the town.

The Friends of Sunnyhurst Woods, Darwen, are worried that work will not be carried out in the wood after they were told the two full-time workers based at the site were being transferred to Whitehall Park to save money.

The announcement was made by Blackburn with Darwen Council bosses, who attended the group's last meeting and also informed them it would be the direct services department now managing the site instead of community and leisure.

About 25 members have attended each monthly get-together after the group was set up five months ago in a bid to keep the wood in tip-top condition.

Dennis Gillibrand, chairman of the group, said he was also concerned the group could not be given a time-scale for their hit list of jobs that need doing.

He said: "The council seemed a bit despondent. They couldn't give us a date for the redevelopment. Some of the paths are so worn away you can't even walk on them. We are even having trouble getting a notice to stop cyclists coming through.

"We have had a lot of support from the council but we just felt we had built up a relationship with them and now we seem to have taken a step back.

"Sunnyhurst is probably the most used woods in the borough but how are the authorities going to know whether ongoing work is needed now without full-time staff being able to report back to them? It looks like they are going to be relying on us to tell them what needs doing.

"People have worked in the woods for nearly 100 years. We fear the worst and that things are dropping behind behind a bit. We want to keep moving."

Tom Wilson, head of outdoor amenities at the council, said: "The gardening staff are now based at Whitehall but the gardening and maintenance work will carry on at Sunnyhurst Wood as before. There is no change to the work programme.

"They were moved to Whitehall as a management decision based on a more effective delivery of the service. The council will review the situation on a regular basis and the Friends of Sunnyhurst Wood were fully informed about the arrangements at our recent meeting."