RESIDENTS are angry at highways bosses’ decision to tear up the pavement outside their homes less than a year after chopping down trees in their street.

Lancashire County Council’s (LCC) road workers began ripping up flagstones in Garden Street, Brierfield.

It comes less than a year after the same authority chopped down several cherry blossoms in the street against residents’ wishes.

Householders slammed the action, saying the tarmac set to be laid in place of the flagstones would ruin the street’s ‘traditional’ look.

They also questioned why the work was being done and said repairing potholes in the road should have been the highways authority’s priority.

But Colin Badminton, LCC’s public realm manager, said the work is being done in response to ‘long-standing’ problems with trees’ roots pushing up the pavement.

He added that any ‘serious’ potholes would be repaired as part of the work.

The resurfacing work in Garden Street is expected to last around three weeks.

Resident Lorna Barker said: "The pavement was slightly uneven but it didn't really need doing.

"I would rather have seen the road re-done. They're ruining the appearance of the street by taking down the trees and now taking away the traditional pavements."

Neighbour Mark Mason said: "The road needs doing more than the pavement so I'm not sure why they are doing the pavement."

Mr Badminton said the work had been scheduled for ‘some time’.

He said: "We continue to make emergency repairs to 95 per cent of the most serious potholes within 24 hours of them being reported to us, and we will ensure that any such problems in Garden Street are dealt with as part of the current works.

"However, we have to prioritise and this means we can't always deal with less serious problems such as minor damage to the road surface."