Julie Boland always enjoyed her privacy. Leafy trees shielded her and fellow residents from a building site just yards from their homes.

But that all ended this week. Workers ripped up the 20 trees in a line that, at 18 feet high, provided a welcome screen.

Now an investigation is under way following the unexpected demolition at the controversial Waitrose site in Chandler's Ford.

Residents of Fryern Close, next to the building site, were led to believe the trees would stay because they were included in the plans for six two-bedroom houses being built by Eastleigh Housing Association as part of the supermarket construction programme.

Bulldozers levelled the screen of trees in minutes, leaving homeowners with a view of the building site and eventually of the new houses when construction finishes. A path was also turned to rubble when the trees were taken up because their root systems stretched underneath it.

Now the walkway is strewn with lumps of asphalt making it dangerous to walk along at night when it is not lit.

Disabled and elderly residents confined to wheelchairs are also unable to use the path leaving them with a much further journey to local shops.

Fryern Close resident Julie Boland said: "I opened my back door this morning and there was a guy sitting on a crane looking into my back garden, I have lost all of my privacy.

"They have pulled up about 20 trees which were close to my house. Now we are going to be disturbed by the building work all summer. I can't even use my back garden.

"I should think this will reduce the value of my house, it will certainly reduce the pleasure of living in my house. They just can't put 18ft trees back. They will take years to grow.

"They can't put in an 18ft high fence either, so I don't know what they should do. I feel like moving. I'm so fed up with it, but who would want to buy my house with all of the work going on. My neighbour who is disabled and walks with a stick can't use the path anymore because it is completely unstable."

Business and development manager from Eastleigh housing association Steve Lynch said: "The trees were nothing special, they weren't of any consequence. We hadn't intended to take the trees out but we found the rootage to be more extreme than we thought.

"I have spoken to the planners at Eastleigh council and we don't need permission to remove the trees. It's our intention to put up a 6ft fence."

A spokesman for Eastleigh council said: "It was not a planning condition for the trees to be retained."