ENVIRONMENTALISTS are angry work on an £120,000 adventure playground - on two islands at Sale Water Park - has started before final planning permission has been granted.

Deckers, who manage the Water Sports Centre on behalf of Trafford council, started work on the project last week.

The two sites, popular nesting ground for wildlife, including a large population of Canada geese, have been cleared of all vegetation and trees.

The "Adventure Island" being built, for children aged eight and over, is an assault course with wooden climbing frames, scramble nets, a tyre traverse and an aerial runway. The islands are only accessible by water and users will make their way onto the islands by boat or raft.

Deckers hope the project will be completed in four weeks - in time for their summer season - and are promising special discounts for schools and youth groups.

But the scheme will need to receive retrospective planning permission and conservationists claim the project has gone ahead without proper consultation.

Pamela Watt, of The Avenue, in Sale, is a regular visitor to the water park. She said: "They were lovely islands and should have been kept for their original purpose; as a sanctuary for the waterfowl.

"An obstacle course could be built on one of the fields by the lake. I feel very upset about this - no one really knew what was happening. I'm not against the building of a facility like this but why disrupt all the waterfowl. The island was really lovely and at the moment it just looks terrible."

Fellow rambler Helen McGrath, of Westmorland Road, Urmston, said: "I like to take my children to the water park to learn about nature and wildlife - not to go to an adventure park."

Sylvia Davis, of Woodhouse Lane, Davyhulme, said: "Wildlife habitats are increasingly precious and should be treated with respect; while from a safety aspect I would not like to see an adventure park for children on an island next to water."

Deckers secured a 20-year management lease from Trafford council in 2000. Part of their bid included a commitment to build a new 'land based' attraction.

The Adventure Island project was approved in 2001 but applications for funding support were not successful. The project stalled for four years until now when it seems Deckers have decided to fund the whole project.

Steve Hayes, Trafford council's leisure services manager, said: "The advice given in 2001 was that planning permission was not required as the equipment did not exceed three metres in height.

"However, subsequent planning legislation has invalidated the original advice and Deckers have been advised that permission is now required."

"They have completed an application and are requesting that this be approved retrospectively."

Deckers director Max Brierley said: "It is most regrettable that The Deckers Group has been perceived to have forged ahead with this project without some of the permissions required.

"The Deckers Group has strived throughout this project to behave in the most responsible way - consulting and gaining approvals and permissions whenever necessary.

"As various bodies have insisted that the project now requires further formal permissions, Deckers are once again working hard to ensure that these are granted as soon as possible."

RSPB spokesman Tim Melling said: "It's always a shame when a special wildlife habitat is taken away for development and doubly so if the local authority hasn't demanded some sort of compensation for it."