By WAYNE THOMPSON
A shopping mall chain's plan to remove 7m tree ferns from Henderson's so-called Eco Mall, West City, is a "bloody outrage," says Waitakere City Mayor Bob Harvey.
He said last night that he was frustrated and embarrassed that his council had given a resource consent to Westfield to be rid of the six mamaku (black tree ferns), which are part of the popular "mist garden" in the mall's atrium.
The tree ferns rise up to two levels from a bed of rounded rocks which are continually covered in rising mist.
The feature was built in 1997 by the previous mall owner, the St Lukes Group.
"These wonderful trees gave the mall its look," said Mr Harvey.
He said he had found out that the resource consent had been given by council officers without public notification.
The council had strong laws governing the cutting-down of mature trees, he said. But, obviously, the laws did not hold for trees growing inside.
A Waitakere sculptor and chairman of the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society, John Edgar, called the tree ferns beautiful.
He said he would have thought a grove of trees growing inside was as worthy of protection as one growing outside on someone's property.
Westfield's regional general manager, Ari Athanasopoulos, said the tree ferns were being removed to "improve the visibility and customer flow throughout the centre."
That was part of a brief given to a landscape design company, along with ensuring that the original Waitakere bush theme of the feature was retained.
The mist garden would be replanted with lower-growing species. The work was part of stage two of the mall's $80-million redevelopment.
Harvey outraged by mall tree lop
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