SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — Orthodox Jews have appealed to a court in Sydney to overturn a decision to deny them an Eruv.

Plans for a symbolic religious enclosure have been underway for more than five years on Sydney’s north shore, but last year the local council voted against allowing the construction to go forward.

The New South Wales Land and Environment Court is this week considering the case after the organizing committee of the Northern Eruv appealed the decision.

A heated debate has raged among locals in Sydney’s north shore with many opposing the idea of a designated religious enclosure for the several thousand Jews who live there.

An Eruv has existed in the eastern suburbs around Bondi Beach – where most of Sydney’s 40,000 Jews live – since 2002.