A parish council’s plans to make improvements to a wood on the edge of Oxford have been branded as “ignorant and crass” by a leading conservationist body, which fears work will impact on nesting birds.

North Hinksey Parish Council’s plans to make a wooded area near Matthew Arnold School more accessible to visitors has come under criticism from a group of residents, who fear the character of an unspoilt woodland will be ruined.

But with workmen due to begin work this week, Britain’s oldest conservation body, the Open Spaces Society, waded into the row.

The Henley-based conservation group criticised the parish council for failing to tell local people about its intentions for the copse off Arnold Way, and for undertaking the work in the middle of the nesting season.

In a letter to the parish council Kate Ashbrook, the general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, said she was appalled at the prospect of a hard-surface path being created through the woods.

In a last-ditch bid to stop the work she told the parish council: “In view of the mounting level of local alarm about the council’s plans, not least because their details have not been divulged, we urge you to desist.”

The woods were visited by Dr Andrew Gosler, president of Oxford Ornithological Society. He said: “The parish council should not be doing this in the breeding season. It betrays ignorance and lack of care. It is crass to do such a thing at this time. You can be certain that the council has not considered whether the site has conservation value.”

Niki Carter, one of the local residents opposing the work, said 137 people had signed a petition urging the council to drop its plans.

Briony Newport, chairman of Hinksey Parish Council, said the work in the woodland was the latest phase of a five-year plan. The parish had successfully attracted grants towards environmental improvements in Louie Memorial Copse and Fenlands.

The latest proposals were for a viewing platform and a crushed limestone path to create a safe walkway for children.