ANGRY householders have claimed the historic look of their community is being ruined by the removal of cobblestones.

Residents living in The Mount were horrified to discover them being ripped up in the streets' parking area by council workers as part of an improvement programme.

A spokeswoman for City of York Council said the work was necessary because some of the cobbles had deteriorated and trees were being damaged.

But resident David Rayner said the street had become an eyesore and the work had disrupted the historic character of The Mount.

He said: "The cobbles have been down since the First World War and have a continuation about them which has been ruined."

Mr Rayner said parking spaces would also be lost because of the work despite resident parking charges being doubled.

"The place will look an absolute mess," he said.

Another resident said: "We have to observe terms of Grade 2 listing and conservation area status for our homes, and we endeavour to comply.

"I feel badly let down by the council who should be the guardians of an important conservation area, not its despoiler."

But a spokeswoman for City of York Council said: "The scheme has been in progress for some weeks and the council has invested heavily in new York stone flagging to replace the sections of the pavement that were damaged, as well as relaying the existing flagging wherever possible.

"The cobbled parking area had deteriorated and was uneven and trees were being damaged by vehicles parking there. We have put in kerb-edge tree pits to protect them. This has led to two to three of the 30 parking spaces being lost, but the spaces were not allocated to individuals.

"All parking spaces are used on a first-come first-served basis. Any footscrapes removed will be tidied up and replaced.

"The overall aim is to protect the trees, tidy the area and make the paving and cobbled area safe. The work is 75 per cent complete and will take another two to three weeks to finish."

Updated: 11:05 Wednesday, May 11, 2005