The home of children's favourite Winnie the Pooh is under threat - from conservationists.

High Weald, an area of outstanding natural beauty in which Pooh's Ashdown Forest home lies, is the scene of a controversial project to restore it to its pre-war blend of heath and woodland by felling swathes of trees.

So furious are residents at the project by the forest's governing body, the Board of Conservators, some are threatening to chain themselves to trees.

At a recent meeting attended by more than 100 residents recent work was likened to the Nazi Holocaust and the area now looks like the Somme, it was said.

Rose Moore, of Hartfield, said: "It is a form of scientific fanaticism. They don't accept that many people feel an emotional attachment to this place. They say that there is a subjective idea of what is beautiful but I don't find stumps and something looking very like the Somme beautiful at all."

Retired Tony Everett, of Old Stable Beacon Road, Crowborough, describes his position as "middle-of-the-road" in the row.

He said: "I don't think I disagree with what they are doing but they have done some of the clearance in an insensitive manner. They have cleared a lot of trees at Wren's Warren and this is typical of an area where they get soil erosion if you get a lot of rain. They ought to be a bit more careful.

"They're also pretty bad at explaining what they are doing, there's a terrific lack of communication."

Ashdown Forest's conservation officer, Chris Marrable, said: "The situation with Ashdown Forest is that it's misleading from an ecological and conservationist viewpoint in that the woodland is not endangered.

"Heath is a rare and threatened habitat. Ashdown Forest is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and is a specially protected area.

"The problem is we are charged with protecting the heath and what has happened over the last 50-odd years is the loss of the traditional use of the heath."

Hundreds of commoners used the wood and heath to graze their livestock keeping the woodland in check. Now there is only one commercial grazer.

As a result the traditional 60:40 ratio between heath and wood became unbalanced. It is claimed that if kept unchecked, the entire forest would be wooded within 75 years.

Mr Marrable said: "I think the route of the problem is that we haven't been able to get our message across."

The recent increase in tree felling is down to extra money from the Government which recognised that half of all the UK's SSSIs were in a unfavourable or declining state.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has set a target to bring 95 per cent of SSSIs into a favourable condition by 2010.