The City of Fremantle has hit pause on planned works on a playing field redevelopment in Beaconsfield following community outcry over the planned removal of more than two dozen trees.

Residents gathered at Hilton Park North, at the corner of Carrington Street and Lefroy Road, in the cold of Wednesday morning to protest the trees’ removal.

A total of 26 trees, including towering Norfolk pines, were marked to be felled as part of a redevelopment of the playing grounds approved by the local council in 2024.

But residents claim they were blindsided when signs erected at the park last week ahead of works to remove asbestos from the site of what was once a BMX track also revealed 29 trees would be removed.

Stephanie Jones said the signs marked the first communication since 2024 relating to the number of trees that would be felled.

“Thursday morning they were putting the signs up that the 29 trees were coming down, and that same day, Fremantle put something on their website to notify us that stage one was starting,” she said.

“That’s the first communication since 2024 when the masterplan came out.”

The number of trees to be removed was cut to 26 in a community update about the works released by the city on Monday.

“We think that the council hasn’t got a mandate, and they need to rethink this,” resident Emma Geary said on Wednesday morning.

“They need to sit down with the community, ask what we want – and we don’t want this,” Jones added.

The masterplan set out to replace the removed trees two-to-one, but Geary and Jones pointed out that it would take decades for those trees to grow to the height of the ones that were being cleared.

They were concerned about the impact of the trees’ removal on native wildlife that frequented the area, with boobook owls and black cockatoos a common sight.

Now, the city has “temporarily paused” the Hilton Park works ahead of providing more detail and information on what they entail.

“City officers will mark out the location of the proposed junior oval on the ground to clearly show its footprint and the trees impacted within the work area,” a city statement read.

“A site walk with community will be proposed later this week, at a time to be confirmed.”

The statement said the city remained committed to delivering the masterplan, “while recognising how strongly the community values established trees”.

It is the second tree-borne headache for the council in as many months.

In early July, South Fremantle residents were outraged at the prospect of two Norfolk pines being felled to make way for a pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Douro Road and South Beach.

After a “significant participation response from the community”, the council dumped the plans, with a view to design a pedestrian crossing that did not require the trees’ removal.