New neighbours rally around the Sussexes to ward off prying paparazzi

Harry and Meghan's new Canadian neighbours have their backs. Photo / Getty Images

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Canadian neighbours have asked officials for new trees and signs to protect the couple's privacy, amid signs the couple's presence has increased community tensions.

Residents in North Saanich, Vancouver Island, were quick to embrace the young family on their arrival following their decision to step back from royal duties. The community has actively sought to thwart even the most imaginative attempts to clap eyes on them.

The latest salvo has come in the form of a request to the council for new trees and signs to protect their privacy. One local has requested some new rhododendrons to be planted outside the Sussexes' waterside house to create a fenced-off area.

Another suggested signs reading "local/resident traffic only" be put up on roads leading to their rented home. Others urged the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to step in against what they see as paparazzi intrusion. One member of the fiercely vigilant community has formed a Facebook group to identify the locations of paparazzi.

Others are said to have delighted in toying with journalists. When one 83-year-old neighbour was asked if he had seen "them", he mischievously replied: "Who? Oh, right, them - yeah, Archie's been keeping us up all night with his wailing."

The locals have been actively warding off journalists and nosy paparazzi. Photo / Getty Images

Deep Cove Market, a café where the Duke has been spotted buying sandwiches, has declared itself a "press free zone". Such Herculean efforts have not gone unnoticed by the Sussexes. Miles Arsenault, who runs a taxi boat from nearby Deep Cove, received a personal phone call from the Duchess after it was reported that he refused to ferry Japanese photographers keen to shoot their home.

She was "sweet, real and sincere", he said. One photographer, who asked not to be named, said paparazzi had been intimidated by locals and even threatened with being beaten up.

The Duke and Duchess have been renting the $20.5 million (£10 million) Mille Fleurs mansion on Vancouver Island since they arrived in Canada in November. The finer detail of their plan to step down as working members of the Royal family is understood to have been put together at the waterside property with a small group of American advisers.

According to local sources, the Duchess has been spotted shopping at Whole Foods, near Victoria, and at a fish market in the village of Sidney. The family is said to travel in various cars, flanked by separate vehicles for their security. They managed to keep their location under wraps, not least thanks to the discretion of the locals, for several weeks.

One woman suggested that signs reading "local/resident traffic only" could be put up on roads around Mille Fleurs to create grounds for police to act. However, the council replied: "The areas in question are public highways and public rights of way.

"Unfortunately, these legal means do not have the ability to restrict use to non-residents."