RESIDENTS in Jericho have claimed noise from a railway line has been worsened by tree clearance work.

The Jericho Community Association said it had written to Network Rail, which owns and operates Britain’s railway infrastructure, to complain they had suffered “severe environmental loss” that had affected “the cultural life of Jericho”.

The firm has been clearing vegetation and cutting back trees along the railway near Jericho to create room for more tracks.

Spokeswoman Victoria Bradley said it would carry out some replanting.

But the association claimed extra noise from the now-unshielded railway line had caused two concerts at St Barnabas Church to be cancelled because of the “increased noise level experienced”.

Vice-chairman Paul Hornby wrote in a letter to Network Rail: “The entire woodland has been felled, even including those trees on the banks of the streams which adjoin the canal on its western side.

“The scores of trees felled represent a mature growth of 40 years plus and their loss was completely unnecessary.

“A mature landscape view of trees which masked development and presented a pleasant outlook has been replaced by an unsightly view of an industrial landscape of sidings and the controversial student housing beyond.

“All this has been done without any consultation with the residents whose visual environment has been destroyed.”