Council bosses have defended a decision to chop down trees as part of work to replace a bridge in Highgate.

Three more trees are set to be felled to create a new bridge over Stanhope Road, in addition to two that have already been taken down.

The bridge is part of Parkland Walk, a 4.5-mile pedestrian and cycle route between Finsbury Park and Muswell Hill that forms London’s longest local nature reserve.

An online petition calling on Haringey Council to draw up a more eco-friendly design for the new bridge that “puts nature first and stops more destruction of our nature reserve” has so far gained more than 2,300 signatures.

It warns the removal of trees will lead to a loss of wildlife habitat and a “hugely valuable asset” in the fight against climate change.

The petition urges the authority to scrap its planned bridge design and “instead create something genuinely green and forward-thinking for our beloved wildlife corridor”.

The council faced criticism last year when dozens of trees were felled as part of separate bridge repair works on Parkland Walk.

The Stanhope Road bridge replacement works were discussed during a meeting of the environment and community safety scrutiny panel on Thursday. According to the council, the bridge needs replacing because it would not be economically viable to repair it and guarantee a 120-year lifespan.

Simon Farrow, the council’s interim head of parks and leisure, told the meeting that the abutments holding up Stanhope Road bridge were “in a progressive state of failure”.

He said work to remove the abutments would involve removing the roots of one of the trees.

Because the new bridge needs to be taller than the existing structure to meet highways standards, he said the council needed to create a new access ramp, which would add between 0.5 and 1.25 metres of soil on top the roots of the trees.

Simon continued: “Those trees […] would be killed as part of the works if left in situ. They may not die instantly, but they certainly would be likely to die very soon as a result of the weight [of soil] and excavation of the roots.”

The Stanhope Road scheme is part of an eight-year project to renovate or renew the seven Parkland Walk bridges maintained by Haringey Council.

Under questioning from Scott Emery, a Liberal Democrat committee member,

Simon said the authority was now going “much further to ensure members of the community understand the necessity of the work”. This involves officers meeting with stakeholders and having a “full discussion on site”, with the public able to ask questions about why the trees need to be felled.

Yvonne Say, a Labour committee member, said one of the key reasons behind the planning committee’s decision to approve the scheme was that the new ramp would make Parkland Walk more accessible for wheelchair users.