Bristol City Council wants to prune bushes and remove cover from an area known as the Downs to improve the landscape and encourage rare wildlife.But its own gay rights group has opposed the move, claiming that cutting back the bushes was “discriminating” to homosexual men who used the area for late night outdoor sex known as dogging.

Dogging? Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.

Work on the beauty spot has been temporarily delayed while talks with gay rights groups take place to try and break the deadlock.

The area of the Downs sits at the top of the Avon Gorge, in the upmarket Clifton suburb of Bristol and is home to various species of rare plants and wildlife.

But councillors said it had become overgrown over the past 20 years.

Thick bushes cover the secluded area next to a street known Circular Road which has become a mecca for gay men and couples cruising for sex.

The area hit the headlines last year when four firemen who disturbed an outdoor gay sex session were reprimanded and fined after they shone torches into the undergrowth.

Can’t shine a light on gay dogging. Just ain’t right.