There has been "an upsurge of anger" after trees and bushes around tennis courts were felled in a spree described as "the great Hornsey chainsaw massacre".

Haringey Council gave the green light to chop down "low quality" trees and plants in Stationers Park in Mayfield Road as part of tennis court refurbishment.

The council and the Lawn Tennis Association have joined forces to invest £446,782 to refurbish five public park tennis courts in the borough for the community. 

As well as Stationers Park, renovations will also take place in Chapmans Green, Chestnuts Park, Downhills Park, and Priory Park.

But Chris Arnold, chair of the Friends of Stationers Park, said the work was carried out by Haringey Council contractor Usher's, but residents were neither consulted nor told that the trees would be felled. 

"I thought they would be trimming branches. Nobody told me they were going to massacre them. 

"There's been an upsurge of anger from the community."

He said an overgrown willow by the tennis courts had to be cut down for health and safety reasons and several months ago a tree fell and crushed a car in Mayfield Road, which the council quickly removed. 

He added that trees had also been cut down by an adjacent vicarage because they were damaging the buildings, but the fellings by the tennis courts were "unacceptable." 

He added: "While we understand the need to fell dangerous trees and those damaging property I can see no reason why these needed to be cut down and share the horror locals feel.

"We have asked Usher’s for an explanation."

A spokesperson for Ushers said: "What we've done will be to a specification that was agreed in writing before we started. We've only done what we were asked to do."

Cllr Mike Hakata, Haringey's deputy leader and lead member for climate action, environment and transport, said the plans were co-designed and agreed with the Friends of Stationers Park, who attended several site visits at which the works were thoroughly explained - although Mr Arnold denies this.

He added that felling the trees was "essential work" as part of a major refurbishment plan for the tennis courts at the park, which would mean the "valuable" asset could be enjoyed by the community for years to come. 

He added: “Unfortunately, the trees which were self-seeding and poor quality were overhanging and causing damage to the existing court and would do the same when it was renovated. 

"We will be planting high-quality replacement trees elsewhere in the park, so the canopy cover is quickly restored."