CAMPAIGNING residents are celebrating a victory that stopped a housing developer felling historic trees in their community.

The beech and sycamore trees had stood proudly in Adlington for almost 300 years. But Westbury Homes planned to cut them down to make room for new houses.

Residents formed an action group known as Champions of the Cardwell Beech and enlisted the help of politicians.

Now the company has bowed to public pressure and withdrawn their appeal against a planning application which was refused by Chorley Borough Council because one of the beech trees had a preservation order on it.

Champions' spokesman, Judith Gregory, said: "We are all very pleased at this result. It has been a long hard struggle but we got there in the end. It would have been heart-breaking if they had cut it down."

She added: "These trees are more than 250 years old and part of our history and we wanted them to be part of our community for another 250, at least."

Adlington MP Lindsay Hoyle was also keen to stave off the removal of the trees by the company.

He said: "Westbury Homes undertook the work in the knowledge that the preservation order was in place but hoped to get it removed.

"To see the tree felled for the purposes of property development would have been awful and I am pleased the company has seen sense."

Technical director for Westbury Homes, Rafiq Taylor said: "Armed with the reports' findings, we can ensure that any work carried out on the site will be met by the approval of the council to the benefit of the tree and the residents of Adlington."