The whole city centre has been massacred, fury at Plymouth council.

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/new...s-like-8260174

Why didn't they plan the city centre changes around the mature trees already in place?

That's the problem when you get non-gardeners to plan city gardens.

From the comments there the trees were rotten.

Yeah right - that's why they were chopped down in middle of the night.

And:

Here

The trouble with you lot is that if a Conservative council do something you don't like - they're wrong but if a Labour council do something wrong, you've wrong.

I have no interest in UK politics. I am actually a little left of certre but actually have no interest here. Other than I may have accidentally incited another slug-fest.

Please play the ball, not the player. Otherwise “you lot” will eventually destroy this forum.

I remember in the early days having a temp job to preserve trees in Claramatte (Basel) as the park went under renovation, it cost a fortune but no-one complained with especially the roots having to be mapped. Went on for 3 months and we were paid 48.- per hour!

When the player thinks it is normal to chop down town centre trees in the middle of the night - I'd say that the "player" was the one with the problem.

Watch out or the "players" will destroy the forum with their idiotic, nonsensical posts.

Seriously? Is all this personal stuff really necessary?

Give it a rest please.

Well said, Belgianmum! Thank you.

I actually like the bit in the article which says:

“They're home to a multitude of twittering birds who, admittedly, occasionally crap on your head, but it's always nice to have some pleasant wildlife in the city as well as assorted drug users, street drinkers and ne-er do wells”.

Ringing any bells yet?

If you read the whole article you see there were all sorts of reasons - no longer fit with the original concept, it was all overgrown with dead wood and was a good hiding place for druggies and other ne’er do wells. Presumably you wouldn’t have fancied walking through it alone.

Also, the redevelopment plans look pretty nice. It’s donkeys years since I was in Plymouth. Most of the relatives I had there have moved elsewhere.

EDIT: ZR read it the same way as I did.

I wasn’t talking about Plymouth

First time I have seen pictures of Plymouth....
What a dreary and dull and grimy dump. I would say that any tree living there wasn´t cut down, it received assisted suicide.

"You" is apparently a problematic word on this forum. Please can people refrain from using it and use the less accusative "one" instead.

So:

I'm not sure that the new plans will remove the problems that one is currently facing.

I'm sure drug addicts and other ne’er do wells would quite like a spraying water fountain walkway as much as anyone else.

I used to work there in the 7 years immediately prior to coming here, first in the City Treasury building then in the Civic Centre.

Most of Plymouth was destroyed during WWII by the German Luftwaffe and then hastily rebuilt. The Barbican port area somehow survived and is one of the few places there worth a sightseeing visit.

The new plans look nice. But the implementation, that is cutting trees down in the middle of the night guarantees bad publicity and is far from the Swiss development model of endless consultations.

Sure, whatever quietens the screams.

I think this is the main trigger, reading through the article. They cut loads of trees down in other parts but it didn’t attract the same outrage.

For anyone interested in the full facts, here the link:

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...cal-opposition

Now it can be called Plymouth Rock 2

These central ‘Boulevards’ aren’t actually that bad, the druggies, alcoholics, etc were mainly in Bretonside bus station and parts of Union Street…
remember, Plymouth was bombed to hell during the second world war (because of Devonport dockyard), so these areas are wide and well lit and very nice with these trees which are always pleasant with rather than without, (like Champs-Élysées)…

It is not always possible. If you think of the famous boulevards they were planned first and the trees came after. But it takes a while. Urbanists, architects, should work together with landscape architects, that's for sure, as to incorporate green spaces everywhere and help them grow.

When we bought our apartment the estate developer bragged about building the new house in a way that would preserve the very old tree that still existed there.
They didn't. (not because they didn't want, I guess)

Anyways, if the trees were rotten and could have endangered pedestrians during storms, strong winds etc......maybe it was a good thing getting rid of them?