A CAMPAIGN group is being launched to protect a York nature reserve from re-development.

Local residents are concerned that an area of woodland in the grounds of Fulford Cross School might be lost, after the special school closes down next year.

Now they are planning to form the Friends of Fulford Cross Nature Reserve to lobby for its retention as an area rich in wildlife.

One of the organisers, Peggy Mellers, said a public meeting was to be held at 7.30pm, on Monday February 12, at Fishergate Primary School, in an effort to get the Friends off the ground.

She appealed for people interested in the future of the site to attend.

But the nature reserve issue would also be raised at a Fishergate ward committee meeting next Tuesday at St George's Roman Catholic Primary School.

Mrs Mellers said an application had been made for £2,000 for a survey to be carried out on the flora and fauna in the woodland, with the aim of establishing the importance of the site and creating a management plan.

She said there were many birds and mature trees in the woodland, which lay between the school and some allotments and the River Ouse.

She regarded it as an important green area within the city and along the river corridor.

Another concerned resident, Richard Whiting, said wholesale redevelopment of the school site would destroy the nature reserve.

"We hope to restrict redevelopment to the site of the school buildings, so that the rest of the area could become a green heritage site."

The launch of the Friends comes several months after more than 150 people attended a public meeting in York, determined to save the woodland.

City of York Council officers explained then that the site would be available from September 2004 and that a widespread consultation would take place to determine how best to use it.

They said the meeting was only the first stage of an ongoing consultation with residents about the future of the site, and people's views would be taken on board.

Updated: 09:50 Friday, January 24, 2003