People living at a housing estate in North Sheen are "in uproar" after a group of trees between the flats and the railway track were chopped down without warning.

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Unexpected: People were not prepared for the scale of the work

The people of Robinson Court were hand-delivered notices after work had already begun cutting down the Cypress trees that lined the fence overlooking the railway line.

Richard Friend, who has lived at Robinson Court for 23 years, said the trees acted as a noise and dust barrier from the railway track, as well as deterring graffiti artists from targeting the walls of the buildings.

He said: "The whole of the neighbourhood is in uproar.

"We have always kept this side of the railway clear of graffiti. You can just see, they are going to look at those back walls and just go for it. Apart from that the noise and the dust it is going to create is not going to be pleasant.

"I can’t see any reason why they would have done it."

A mother-of-two who lives at Robinson Court said people were furious they had not been told of the work beforehand and a childminder who also resides on the estate said she believed there had been a mix-up, because nearby St Mary’s Grove had received notice trees would be cut down but work had not started.

When Mr Friend complained to the Richmond Houing Partnership (RHP) customer services team, an adviser apologised for the lack of communication beforehand and said plans to cut down the trees were in place, but the organisation was waiting for tree surgeons City Suburban to inform them when they would start.

The adviser said: "Unfortunately they failed to give us this information and went ahead with the work. We're unhappy that this went ahead without us knowing and we've brought this to their attention."

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Disagreement: The trees were said to be on their last legs

Adam Jory, of City Suburban, said the company was carrying out work to a schedule RHP was aware of.

He said: "Maybe not on that specific day but certainly in that quarter. We are led by the client."

Not all the residents are annoyed about losing the Cypress trees.

Adam Baker said the work presented a wonderful opportunity for those living at Robinson Court to pass their input on to RHP about what should be planted instead.

He said: "They were a bit incongruous and were in bad health and it is the perfect opportunity to plant some great stuff.

"RHP have told us they are open to suggestions."

Brenda McDermott said: "I am not going to complain, we are very lucky with the flats and the way it is. RHP must have their reasons."

An RHP spokeswoman said the trees were in poor condition and unlikely to survive much longer.

She said: "As a duty of care to our customers, the public and our property, we need to mitigate any risks and hazards from trees that are diseased, damaged or in a very poor state of health.

"We’re sorry that we didn’t let customers know sooner and have taken action to make sure we can give more notice of work such as this in the future."