Bedale Town Council may face legal action by the Environment Agency over the timing of dredging work on the local beck, it was revealed yesterday.

Local people worried about the work and its possible effect on wildlife have claimed the improvement project costing almost £5,000 had "gone over the top" in removing or severely cutting back all vegetation on both banks except for established trees.

The town council has defended the work, saying it was overdue by almost 30 years. It claims the beck was so heavily silted up that its course had been altered, adding that removal of vegetation was the only way of giving dredging machinery access and of assessing the stability of an eroded footpath which might need piling on one bank.

But an Environment Agency spokeswoman said the council could face enforcement action because it might have broken the law by doing the work at this time of year.

She said: "We would have expected the town council to have applied to us for permission to do the bank clearance and we would be very concerned about even thinking about dredging the beck at this time of year.

"Our ecologist tells us that Bedale Beck contains one of the last remaining colonies of native crayfish, but there are also nesting birds, probably water voles and other forms of wildlife. We will make a formal investigation and it could lead to enforcement action."

Brian Morland, a leading environmental consultant who lives beside the River Ure at West Tanfield, described the work as environmental madness at this time of year.

He said it had implications for other wildlife as well as the familiar nesting ducks and added: "I think it's very sad. The beck is now an open, featureless ditch. A wild area has been sanitised and wildlife habitats will have been destroyed.

"This is the fish spawning time of year, with the chances of dirty water being sent downstream from the dredging, but there will also be dragonfly larvae and such wildlife as coots and moorhens. Silt is also a natural part of the habitat of juvenile brook lampreys."

Deputy mayor Coun Malcolm Young said yesterday he was disappointed the agency had made its comments before contacting the town council and added: ''We have tried to do this to the best of our ability and not break any laws.''