ANXIOUS residents are concerned that maintenance work on the former Cashes Green hospital site will be devastating to wildlife.

And as contractors clear shrubbery from the area there have been reports of rats fleeing into nearby gardens.

The site is about 1/4 of a mile square and was previously used for allotments, but it has since been neglected and become a haven for wildlife.

It is managed by Government agency English Partnerships, which sent in contractors on Thursday to tidy up the undergrowth while the site is assessed.

But residents say too much greenery is being cleared.

Audrey Smith, 84, who lives in nearby Springfield Road, is a keen bird-watcher.

"It's a real shame. There are so few mature trees round here for the birds to nest in so to see some of those disappear is really sad," she said.

Resident Peter Berry, 70, who lives about 100m from the site in the Stirrup, Stroud, said: "There should have been a wildlife survey.

"Residents want this site developed sensitively, we don't want to see it just bulldozed.

"I am not against a balanced development but it should be done democratically."

Mr Berry says the parish council wasn't consulted.

He also says rats - some up to a foot long - have been flushed out into nearby gardens including his own.

Tabitha Wilson, spokesman for English Partnerships, said the agency was awaiting the results of a site feasibility study.

"We are still in the very early stages of assessing this site so at present there are no plans for us to consult but we will be involving the parish council as soon as possible," she said.

"It appears that in the process of clearing up bushes we found rubbish someone had dumped on the site which could have caused a rodent problem.

"We have now moved all that so we believe we have eradicated any kind of problem."