A FLACKWELL Heath man whose house overlooks the M40 says work being carried out by the Highways Agency has turned his life into a living nightmare.

John Heygate-Brown, 58, could not believe his eyes when he turned up to his Treadaway Hill hproperty to find workers chopping down trees that act as a valuable noise barrier to the motorway.

He said: "I think they have overdone it. They didn't need to cut everything either side. I would have thought the noise in the house is 50 per cent worse it really is."

Mr Heygate-Brown's garden fence backs onto a stretch of grassland owned by the agency which lies alongside the motorway.

Highways said this houses a drainage ditch and workers were cutting down the trees to access it.

But Mr Heygate-Brown says the work has doubled the noise around the three-acre site, making living there unbearable.

Mr Heygate-Brown, of Links Road, Flackwell Heath, currently lets the house out to tenants but says they have since been complaining to him.

He also says some of the workers came over his fence to fell trees some of which were shown to the Free Press.

He said: "They said they would try and put some bushes in but it is going to take years for them to grow.I'd like them to put up a soundproof fence."

Highways said the trees were only chopped down to access the ditch for "annual inspection" which is necessary to avoid blockages.

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said: "The trees cut down were on Highways Agency land only, with possibly some overhanging branches from Mr Heygate-Brown's land. "

She added: "Highways are to plant smaller bushes in the area to re-establish some of the screen.

"An offer has been made to plant some bushes on Mr Heygate-Brown's land which will help reduce the impact of the motorway on his property."