Queen St ready to turn over new leaf

An arborist fells a plane tree as part of the beautification of Queen St's 'golden mile'. Picture / Kenny Rodger.

The first trees in Queen St for the chop were felled yesterday as part of a revised plan to cut down 17 trees between Mayoral Drive and Wellesley St and replace them with other exotics.

Two straggly plane trees and a larger plane tree were cut down on the eastern side of the "golden mile" between Wellesley St and Wakefield St to mark the beginning of the next stage of the $36 million upgrade.

Work started in January on the first stage of the project, from Mayoral Drive to Wakefield St, and the next stage will continue down to the busy intersection with Wellesley St.

Howls of protest at the so-called "Queen St massacre" of exotic trees in favour of a native theme forced a backdown by the council and a re-think of whether to keep exotic trees. The new focus is on an "avenue of trees".

The upgrade will involve removing large concrete raised planters to improve pedestrian access and provide new trees with more soil.

Auckland City Mayor Dick Hubbard said of Queen St: "We want it to be a place we are all proud of and where people love to come."