Plymouth Armada Way tree felling put on hold

The redevelopment is designed to attract people to the city centre

A "short, sharp engagement" with the public has been announced following an outcry over plans to uproot more than 100 trees for a city redevelopment.

Plymouth City Council agreed to suspend all tree felling while the engagement process on the Armada Way project took place during February.

People are invited to the consultation on the controversial £12.7m project at The Guildhall.

The event will be held until Saturday 11 February.

Previous plans to revamp the city centre boulevard were hit with opposition as campaign groups pledged to fight proposals to dig up the trees, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported.

Campaign group Save the Trees of Armada Way (STRAW) collected thousands of signatures against the move.

Although the petition included about 12,000 names, only about 5,000 were accepted by the council as it was claimed many were duplicated and some did not live in the area.

The council said the design team would answer questions at the consultation, explain why they chose the current plan and listen to any ideas for improvements.

Jonathan Drean, Conservative councillor for Budshead and cabinet member for transport, said: "My previous pause of the scheme was a genuine attempt to look at how many of the existing trees could be kept without unduly compromising other benefits of the scheme.

"I recognise we need to ensure everyone has a chance to have their say, whether they support our modified scheme or not."

Controversy over the Armada Way redevelopment has also led to rows among the ruling Conservatives with Plympton St Mary councillor Patrick Nicholson citing the scheme among his reasons for resigning from the party and joining the Independent Alliance.