Armada Way has been reopened up today, after the successful removal of the felled trees that have blighted the city centre for the past six months.
A small army of Council staff, contractors and independent ecologists started working at 5am on Thursday. They carefully checked the tree stacks for any live / nesting birds and ensured that the trees covered by the legal injunction were projected before removing each felled tree and branch from the ground.
The team worked solidly throughout the day until 11pm, successfully removing the piles of trees and nearly all of the remaining tree stumps.
The larger trunks were removed from Armada Way and are being kept in storage for potential reuse. The remnants of the remaining felled trees were chipped onsite and chippings are being stored temporarily, before the vast majority is sent to parks and allotments across the city.
This morning the work continued. From 6am the Council’s street services team were onsite to clean-up the remaining debris. This included mowing, strimming, hand removing any weeds and picking up litter.
As the felled trees were on the ground for some time, it is likely that this clean-up work will continue over the next few days.
Councillor Tudor Evans, Leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “Finally we got there in the end! For too many months the city has been blighted with this awful mess.
“I know that the businesses on Armada Way will breathe a sigh of relief that they can once again look out of their shop or café and not have to look at such an eyesore.
“There will still be some minor clean-up works that will still have to be undertaken, as the trees were down for six months. But we are getting there.
“I would like to thank all the businesses and residents in the city centre for their patience and I would like to thank all the staff and contractors for their hard work over the past couple of days.
“Now that this has been done, I want to look forward.
“In the next few weeks we will be publishing our proposals for a future Armada Way. We want as many people as possible to have their say and I look forward to hearing everyone’s views on the proposed design.
“We want to work with the people of Plymouth to put the city on the map for the right reasons, with an exciting and popular city centre.
“The trees have gone. Let’s move forward.”
For more information about the Armada Way project www.plymouth.gov.uk/armada-way
If you would like to be kept informed about the future Armada Way consultation, please sign up for updates here https://letstalkarmadaway.commonplace.is