RESIDENTS have reignited a campaign to save three trees from being cut down to make way for a cafe.

Placards were hung from the sycamores in the Montague Centre, Worthing, criticising plans to fell them to make way for a Patisserie Valerie glass kiosk.

The high street cafe chain recently signed a 15 year deal to open in the shopping centre in Liverpool Road.

The placards read: “Patisserie Valerie please don’t kill our trees” and “there are empty shops available no need to cut down these trees to build a kiosk”.

Campaigners also tied ribbons around the trees and posted photos with the sycamores using the hashtag #treesnot cake.

Patisserie Valerie has been confirmed as the first company to sign up to Worthing town centre’s new restaurant quarter.

Adur and Worthing Councils approved plans in June 2016 to convert several retail units in the Montague centre in to restaurants.

During the planning process a report submitted to the councils listed the trees as grade B, meaning they had moderate lifespan greater than 20 years, and also noted their value to the landscape.

Work will start next summer on the development and the sycamores are set to be replaced with semi mature trees.

Conservation group The Worthing Society, which had previously collected a petition to save the trees, suggested the developers should build the cafe around them.

Chairman Susan Belton said: “We are a conservation society, but at the same time we do welcome regeneration in the town and new enterprise to create employment.

“But it is about how any new development fits in with the local character and achieving that balance.

“We feel felling these large sycamore trees is a step too far.

“They add character to the area, which is a conservation area.

“All we are asking for is New River Retail and Patisserie Valerie to step back, even at this late stage, and look at an alternative.”

New River Retail and Adur and Worthing Councils did not respond to a request for a comment.