Residents have expressed their dismay over the pruning of several trees which they say are vital for wildlife.

The trees are in the grounds of a synagogue.

Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation was granted permission by the city council to prune 20 trees in the grounds of its site in New Church Road, Hove.

Neighbours expressed concern over the pruning which started on Monday.

Julia Hamblin, 53, of Pembroke Gardens, whose house overlooks the grounds, said: “They have cleared and absolutely decimated the vegetation. It was shocking because there have been a number of European, local, national species sightings on or around the site.”

Residents say the grounds are a corridor from South Downs National Park to the sea and claim an ecologist they commissioned had found the vegetation to be home to protected species including butterflies and bats.

The Argus understands the pruning has now come to a halt. Chairman of Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation David Seidel said: “While we can understand the residents’ concerns over environmental issues in relation to loss of trees and habitat, we would like to reassure them that the works taking place within this site comply with all legal requirements.

“The placing of new Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) on additional trees on the site over and above the existing TPOs was done with and in conjunction with a full and open dialogue with the tree officers from Brighton and Hove City Council and any future works of this nature will be subject to their approval.”

Last year plans were unveiled for a new orthodox synagogue on the site including a cafe, classrooms, a community centre and residential accommodation.

A city council spokesman said: “A Tree Preservation Order was originally put in place back in 1997 covering a number of trees at 29-31 New Church Road.

“We recently visited the site to assess requests made to prune some of the trees there (application BH2018/00480).

“We realised that a number of other trees had established themselves since the original preservation order was made.

“In our view some of these new trees also needed protecting. So we have revoked the old preservation order and put a new one in its place.

“Our arboriculture team has not so far been made aware of any ecology reports relating to this site.

“Interested parties can give us their views and any information they consider relevant to this new order by April 11 at arboriculture@brighton-hove.gov.uk.

“A decision will then be taken as to whether the order is made permanent.”

In response to the council revoking the TPO, Mrs Hamblin said: “I have no understanding of what they’ve done. All they had to do was leave the old TPO in place so those trees were safe and issues a issue new temporary TPO for trees they wished to cover. But now they have revoked the security of all those trees.”