FOREST MP Diana Organ has agreed to approach minister in charge of Forestry Elliot Moreley in a last ditch attempt to stop tree felling in Welshbury Wood.
A petition signed by nearly 200 local people is calling for detailed survey work to be carried out before forestry workers encroach on the steep ramparts of Welshbury Hill Fort.
The MP last week met local people concerned that a proper archaeological survey needed to be made in the area.
"We suspect that this area may be valuable in terms of artifacts and needs to be properly recorded by experts," said Phil Horsely, chairman of the Friends of Chestnuts Wood.
"We have repeatedly pointed up that Chestnuts Wood and the woods of Castiard Vale contain as yet unrecorded archaeological features which need investigation by experts before felling work, yet we have been repeatedly ignored by Forest Enterprise."
The Friends also point out that Mr Moreley made a commitment to make local communities a priority in the way public forests are managed when he launched a new national strategy titled "Forests for People – Working Communities".
In a separate move they have also registered a complaint with the certification body for the UK Woodland Assurance Standards, to which Forest Enterprise is a signatory, which allows them to market their timber as being sustainably produced.