Bird lovers are embroiled in a row over a feeding table.

The small wooden table has stood among bushes in Denton Gardens, Worthing, for five years.

It was put there by a resident who hoped it would attract more wild birds to the area.

Now Worthing Borough Council insists it must be removed, saying public land cannot be used for private property.

The council said anyone was free to go into the park and feed the birds - but not to install a bird table.

The news has annoyed neighbours who were already angry about the gardens being a possible site for the new swimming complex to replace the Aquarena.

Nikki Sheeran, of nearby Warwick Road, said: "It is going from the sublime to the ridiculous. They are going on about a bird table but they are the ones who want to pave the whole gardens over and build a swimming pool.

"It's attracting rare birds. It is personal property but it's nothing offensive. Why are they trying to take down the feeding table now? They must have known it was there - unless they haven't cut the grass for the last five years."

People who use the park say the table is causing no harm to anyone and is so small it blends in with the gardens.

A council notice was stuck to the table on April 27 stating that if it was not removed after ten days it would be taken away.

The table is still standing.

No one knows who put it there originally.

The council's officers said it looked quite new and they were not convinced it had been there five years.

John Thorpe, the council's assistant director for leisure and cultural services, said: "We don't have a problem with people feeding the birds. We are not ogres - we are just anxious about people placing personal property without permission, on public land.

"We are anxious about people trying to acquire rights to things they don't have rights to."

Denton Gardens is one of two possible seafront sites for a new Aquarena.

The Worthing Society conservation group, in association with residents, has started a petition to save the site from development. It can be found at petitiononline.com/denton.

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