PARK lovers have slammed a council for using public money to “sabotage” and “butcher” their beloved green space.

Brighton and Hove City Council has embarked on a restoration project in Stanmer Park on the edge of the city which requires felling and pruning trees.

It has won £3.75 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and BIG Lottery Fund’s Parks For People scheme to restore 20 hectares of the 485 hectare park.

But activists and residents are grouping together and asking it to back off.

Sue Craig, chairwoman of the Stanmer preservation society, said: “These plans are toxic for this beautiful and cherished historic environment.

“What it is doing is not pruning, it’s sabotage.

“The council is butchering the wildlife in the park.

“The entrance to the park at the Lower Lodges has been altered for ever as carnage makes way for car parks.”

Ms Craig is furious the work is being done through public money because she said very few people know what is happening.

She said: “Are members of the public aware that they are paying for the privilege of irrevocably damaging Stanmer Park?

“The insensitive savagery of this deliberate act of habitat destruction has been likened to watching your library being burned down by those who cannot read.”

She said planting a load of new trees will not make up for the benefits of the mature trees that have been cut down or will be cut down.

Kim Tee, a Brighton resident actively involved in protecting the city’s green spaces, said the restoration works are starting at the wrong time in terms of the year and the era.

She said: “The council is working hard to encourage driving rather than sustainable transport.

“Felling trees in nesting season, two months later than planned is awful.

“A known bat roosting tree has been felled.

“In a time of declining species and habitats, when they declare a climate emergency, is this madness?

“Or do we really want to pave paradise and put up a parking lot?”

Green MP for Brighton Pavilion Caroline Lucas said the council must take precautions when wildlife is at risk, and the community must be properly consulted about the plans.

She said: “I’ve written to Brighton and Hove City Council about the work taking place at Stanmer Park.

“While they have reassured me that ecologists have been on site, and checks for nesting birds, bats and dormice have taken place, if residents do have evidence of any risk to wildlife they should report them to the relevant authorities.”

The council has said the project aims to reverse generations of decline at Stanmer Park and restore features such as the walled garden and the park’s historic 18th century designed landscape.

It hopes to add more facilities such as accessible pathways, bike hire and toilets to improve it for today’s visitors.

A council spokeswoman said: “During March, some trees have been pruned or felled in the existing Lower Lodges parking areas and adjacent to the walled garden area to prepare for the improvement works.

“Some of these trees posed a safety risk. These works are now complete.”

She said targeted wildlife surveys were undertaken by suitably qualified ecologists to ensure the works did not disrupt any early nesting bird species, dormouse nests or bats.

She said: “No evidence of any bird or dormice nests, or of bat occupation, was found.

“Around 250 new trees will be planted in the restoration area later in the project.

“No memorial trees have been affected by the works.”

l See Letters, page 10