"BEAUTIFUL" trees were cut down because they were diseased, the council said.

Residents in a Leytonstone street are fuming after two trees used by a variety of wildlife were chopped down, apparently to make way for a school security fence.

Gwyn Jones Primary School, in Hainault Road, was in March granted permission to erect an 8ft high fence with meshing, next to the Fountain Court block of flats, following a series of burglaries.

Fountain Court resident Emma Woodcock said she was given assurances by headteacher Christine Bott that the trees, including a pear tree, would not have to be cut down as part of the work.

But workers last week felled them.

A council spokesman said the school's annual tree survey revealed that the two trees were diseased and needed to be felled.