RESIDENTS are campaigning to make sure that their landlords cannot chop down a 40-year-old tree.

An application by Platt Hill Residents' Association would, if successful, see Bolton Council issue a preservation order on the ash tree.

Granting the order would make it illegal to cut down, lop, uproot, damage or destroy the tree without permission from the council.

The William Sutton Housing Association has objected to the application saying that the tree is "unremarkable" but residents claim it is one of only a few mature trees in the area and want its future safeguarded.

Bolton Council's planning committee will decide whether to grant the application at its next meeting.

It is the latest in a series of disputes between the residents' association and the landlord.

Nine months ago the residents' association successfully blocked a planning application by William Sutton to build eight semi-detached homes on land off Thistleton Road, Deane, opposite the area's community centre, which would have seen the tree felled.

They also recently started a petition to stop their community centre from closing - even though the housing association claimed that the closure was temporary to allow maintenance work to be carried out on the centre.

Residents' association secretary, Neil Garrity, said: "Some of the trees were planted by children living on the estate in the 1960s. The ash tree is one of the longest surviving and attracts a lot of attention, especially in the spring and summer time."

Mr Garrity, aged 31, who lives on Thistleton Road, added: "We wonder if opposing this order is part of a longer-term plan by William Sutton which we are not being told about."

Geraint Roberts, area maintenance surveyor at William Sutton Housing Association, said: "We have a tree for tree' policy, which ensures that any lost trees estates are replaced.

"We have taken advice from our open spaces maintenance contractor and do not consider that there is anything particularly remarkable or unusual to warrant a preservation order being placed on this ash tree, which is situated in the rear garden of the former estate manager's house.

"Although the building itself is currently being converted, it is not our intention to remove the tree. The completed works on the house will provide additional office, training and meeting facilities for the community."