SALISBURY district council's proposals to introduce livestock to Middle Street meadows in Harnham has sparked outrage.

Residents have written complaining to the council and questioning its plans to allow animals, including young cattle and ponies, to graze on the meadows, through an English Nature grazing scheme.

Esther Gilligan, contract monitoring officer at SDC, said the site was maintained by cutting and collecting the grass twice a year and the new management was principally for wildlife reasons - reducing grasses and encouraging wild flowers.

Sharon Garrick, of Old Meadows Walk, is strongly against the plans and has voiced her concerns in a letter to the council.

Mrs Garrick, a past secretary to the meadow's conservation group, said that the group had worked very hard to get the meadow to the stage it was now.

"To think that it will be grazed at a time when the grasses and flowers are at their best is a sacrilege and not what we worked so hard for," she said.

The council said that grazing was an environmentally friendly form of management and would provide local interest and education for urban residents as well as restoring traditional watermeadow management.

Martin Gilchrist, of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, said: "It is a viable way to look after the area. Nothing will be done to restrict people's use and enjoyment of it."

He added that grazing of the area would be a better option than mowing because it would allow a mosaic of habitats - including wildflowers and grasses - to flourish.

She added that the proposals were in their early stages and letters had been sent out to find out people's response to the scheme.

Should there be enough support, the council hopes the scheme will be under way by spring 2004.