Residents left fuming when a 70-year-old tree was felled have discovered an application has been made to build homes on the plot.

The 40ft tulip tree, outside Withdean Court, off Varndean Road, Brighton, was chopped down in January.

After giving pleasure for seven decades, it was felled in less than two hours by contractors working for the building's new freeholder.

Leasehold owners of the flats had always believed the tree was protected by Brighton and Hove City Council and could not be cut down without them being consulted.

Now they have received notification from managing agents Bradford and Bingley - Geering and Colyer that a planning application had been made to the council to build seven flats with eight parking spaces on "disused" tennis courts on the flat site.

Resident Susan Deasy, who has lived in the flats for 11 years, said cutting down the tree had cleared the way for the application.

She said: "I'm very upset and the other residents will be too."

She said the tennis courts were not the residents' but had been used for years by someone who rented them until last year.

She has vowed to fight the planning application which she said was an over-development.

A spokesman for Bradford and Bingley - Geering and Colyer said he was unable to comment.

A spokesman for Parker Dann, the planning and surveying company that has submitted the application on behalf of a client, said the senior partner dealing with the application was on holiday and so could not comment.