A STEEL firm has been told it must take action to restore a former wildlife haven or face legal action.

Ward Bros levelled a 7.3 acre piece of land at Cleveland Street, Darlington, which Darlington Borough Council officers say has rid the area of its wildlife.

The firm initially applied for planning permission to level the meadow last year for the storage of scrap metal, but the council refused the application in July 1999.

But the decision was reversed last March by a Government planning inspector after Ward Bros lodged an appeal.

In making his decision, the inspector placed conditions on the plans to protect the wildlife on the land, in the Albert Hill area of town.

But the borough council officers say the planning conditions were ignored when the company carried out the work on the land last month.

At a meeting this week between council officers and an agent for Ward Bros, the company was told that an enforcement notice would be served if the company did not take action to restore the land to its former condition.

The company could be prosecuted if this is not done, a council spokesman said last night,

He said: "We are trying to reach an agreement on this with them. We are talking to them and we are hoping that they will put it right.

"If they do nothing, we can serve an enforcement notice to comply with these conditions.

"The enforcement notice is a last resort and we are hoping it doesn't come to that."

However, the spokesman said it would probably not be possible to fully restore the land to its previous condition. Prior to the work, the site was noted by the Durham Wildlife Trust.

Diane Nixon, who works opposite the land, said it had gone from being a nice area to look at, to "a big black field".

She said: "I just think it's a shame. There were quite a lot of rabbits and things over there.

"There were a mass of cowslips, there must have been over a hundred of them."

Nobody from Ward Bros was available for comment last night.