THE developers behind the massive Hungate housing development have revealed plans to drastically cut geese numbers near the York site.

Amid concerns that residents snapping up plush riverside flats will not want to be disturbed by gaggles of honking birds leaving trails of droppings, the developers have unveiled environmental improvements they hope will help disperse some of York's most infamous noisy neighbours and encourage other wildlife.

However, the builders behind the £100 million, 720-house complex stress there will be no Canada and Greylag goose cull. They say natural measures will be used to improve the look of Foss Islands Road, ridding the nature reserve of "destructive" geese in the process.

Ecology expert Karen Watson, who is advising the developers, said: "The idea is to make the development look a bit greener."

If rare new vegetation is planted, she said, geese and other wild fowl would get in the way.

"They either trample on it or eat it so nothing can grow," added Mrs Watson, senior ecologist at CPM Environmental Planning and Design. She said material similar to chicken wire mesh would be temporarily laid on some sections of the bank of the River Foss. "Removing an area where they can sit would probably displace a proportion of them, but not discourage them completely.

"They can move on elsewhere. It's not going to harm them at all."

She had not been consulted on the noise issue. "Maybe some people might quite like it. It would be like being back in the open countryside."

Trees will also be removed in a bid to encourage more light so vegetation can thrive, she said.

Nicola Melville, York conservation officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said the geese were not a great conservation concern

She said: "We prefer to see preventative measures first. They are better than any cull, which is very controversial."

Other proposed green improvements for Hungate include gradual removal of sycamore trees from the banks and replacement with native waterside tree species; eradication of Japanese knotweed; replacement of Lombardy poplars with black poplars; and willows with native trees and shrubs.

The developers, joint venture company Hungate (York) Regeneration, hope changes will also lead a suitable habitat for water voles and the depressed river mussel.

A recent meeting heard that work on the long-delayed Hungate development, still to go before planners, may start by the middle of next year.

Updated: 11:04 Friday, April 02, 2004