Green campaigners have begun a vigil to try to protect trees in a Derby park and have warned they may protest by climbing in them.

Members of Friends of the Earth are angry at council plans to chop down more than 100 trees at Arboretum Park.

The tree cutting programme is part of a �5.5m restoration project aimed at getting people back to the park, which claims to be the oldest public park in Britain.

Derby City Council has said many of the trees are dying and misshapen and the project will plant more trees than are cut down.

I am sick of watching this city getting trashed for money Dorothy Skrytek, green activist

But the protestors say it is not necessary to cut down many mature and healthy trees to make way for a "heart of the park" building which will house a cafe and a police office.

It was a move the council's own tree officer opposed.

Dorothy Skrytek, from Friends of the Earth, said: "I am sick of watching this city getting trashed for money and I am sure there are a lot of people out there sick of it."

Central Park

Protestors have mounted a watch on some of the trees to make sure they are not cut and she said they would take direct action if necessary.

"They are going to have to cut me in half first and a considerable number of other people."

New security cameras are being fitted at the Arboretum, which was given to the city by local benefactor Joseph Strutt in 1840, to make people feel safer using it.

There will also be a full time ranger employed to maintain the park, which was the inspiration for the men who designed Central Park in New York in the US.