RAILTRACK'S efforts to replace sections of East Coast Main Line during the weekend did not meet with universal approval.

Great Aycliffe town councillor Bill Blenkinsopp said heavy machinery has ruined the look of a village in County Durham.

Aycliffe Village won a prize in this year's Northumbria in Bloom competition and has been entered in the national final.

However, vehicles which passed through the village to get to the track gouged chunks out of the village green and damaged paving stones.

Coun Blenkinsopp, who lives in the village, said: "It's absolutely disgraceful.

"They came in during Friday night and nobody knew anything about it - they could have put a note through people's doors or something.

"I appreciate there's got to be a lot of work to do, but not by bringing great big wagons into the village and causing all this damage.

"They've encroached on the green, there's big wheel marks all over the place, and they have gone right over the pavement and lifted some of the stones by eight inches

"I'm very upset about it. I'm going to speak to the town council's solicitor and we'll be pursuing Railtrack to either come up with the finances to put it right or get somebody to put it right on their behalf."

Nobody from Railtrack was available for comment last night