Plymouth trees: Work held up on multimillion-pound regeneration

More than 100 trees were chopped down in Plymouth city centre in 2023 to make way for a previous version of the scheme

Long-awaited work to regenerate the site where more than 100 trees were controversially felled has been held up.

A new plan to redevelop Armada Way in Plymouth was signed off in February.

Plymouth City Council leader Tudor Evans said a legal appeal by campaigners had "put the kibosh" on some of the work.

But campaigners said this was incorrect and accused the council of "not being open with the reason for the delays".

Tudor Evans, leader of Plymouth City Council, said campaigners had delayed work on regenerating Armada Way

Mr Evans made the comments in an interview with Caroline Densley on BBC Radio Devon on Thursday.

He said the campaign group STRAW (Save the Trees of Armada Way) had "launched an appeal" which had "obviously put the kibosh on certain bits of work that we wanted to do".

Ali White, from STRAW, said it had not made any legal challenge against the current plans for Armada Way.

Ms White said: "The council's argument that we are holding up the works therefore doesn't make any sense and suggests they are not being open with the reason for the delays.

"Perhaps they should spend more time thinking about whether or not they can afford their new scheme and less time blaming others."

Plymouth City Council has approved new plans for Armada Way

A spokeswoman for Plymouth City Council said an Independent Learning Review that must be carried out into the original tree-felling cannot begin "until all legal action has concluded".

The spokeswoman said: "It is important to remember that any legal action takes a lot of council officer time and obviously needs to take priority over other projects.

"The council is still working on plans to reduce the cost of the Armada Way scheme and it is hoped that over the next few months there will be further announcements on the next steps."

Revised plans include more than 200 trees being retained on Armada Way

In February, Plymouth City Council approved a new scheme including 202 trees for the site at a cost of up to £36.8m.

More than 100 trees were cut down in 2023 to make way for the original regeneration plans which had a budget of £12.7m.

Ms White took the council to the High Court arguing that original tree-felling had been unlawful.

Her case was dismissed in March with the judge saying it was "academic" as a new scheme was now set to go ahead.

The BBC understands Ms White has filed for permission to appeal against that dismissal with a decision yet to be made by the court.