How do I prune this please?

Hello all,

I found these shrubs underneath a thick layer of honeysuckle, weak but still alive.


I trimmed away half of what's on top, revealing even more brown woody branches. The shrub's and the honeysucle's all tangled together, and I don't know how to proceed.


Can I prune the honeysuckle hard, now? Will it damage it? Or wait till September, or even spring? It's quite unsightly and I'd rather deal with it now...

Many thanks!

 

Think, for identification purposes, you may need to get a close-up of the leaves

 

Springreen, yes prune your honeusuckle now.....you will lose flowers for this year but a job done and give yourself some clarity as to dealing with that area. you wont hurt it but give it a good feed, watering and mulch. You will have a good 8 to 10 weeks of growth left if you do this now

 

Hard to get an ID but zooming in on leaves on 2nd pic is clearer and looks like privet. If it is, it may be worth letting it grow new foliage and if it's really tall and straggly, choppin some of the top off the help it thicken up lower down.

 

Many thanks for all your comments! I spent a half hour a day pruning this bit of my garden, and this is what I get after a week:



Reckon I will need another week to really clean it up...