A CAMPAIGN has begun to prevent a woodland in Monmouthshire from becoming a "neglected allotment".

Scores of local residents packed out the Devauden Village hall last night to discuss the fate of the 121 acre Tredean woods.

The woodland was recently sold for 200,000 and the company that acquired it, Woodland Investment Management, has carved up the land and is selling it in small plots on the internet.

Five-and-a-half acres of woodland are currently being advertised for 29,000. Although the website highlights that planning permission for any type of building is extremely unlikely, it points out that caravans can be on site for 28 days of the year and a metal shelter can be brought in as long as the owner specifies it is for workers undertaking forestry development.

The law also permits five cubic metres of timber, equivalent to twelve 30-year-old trees, to be felled every four months.

Local residents want Monmouthshire county council to intervene.

This would take permitted development rights, such as the siting of a caravan or metal shelter, away from the buyer.

Bill Butler, secretary of the Nine Wells Conservation Group, said: "There is the potential loss of 1,000 trees a year through unlicensed felling at Tredean Woods."

He added: "This woodland could become a neglected allotment."