Jewish leaders in Sydney are irate after a local council denied an application to build an eruv.

Ku-ring-gai Council, on Sydney's north shore, voted on Tuesday night to reject a plan to build a 20-kilometre symbolic boundary that would allow Orthodox Jews to push prams and carry objects on Shabbat. The Northern Eruv Group has appealed against the decision.

A petition signed by some 1200 locals, argued that the eruv would create a "ghetto of Jewish people" and "pollute the environment".