Whangarei tree protesters' hopes felled

The Mander Park trees are now no more. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The battle in Whangarei to save the Mander Park trees saw protesters claim a victory as they saw off plans to chainsaw 11 large trees put off on Saturday, but yesterday their joy turned to grief as the trees came down in a big security operation.

Whangarei District Council sold a strip of Mander Park, gifted to the district more than 100 years ago, to the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) so State Highway 1 could be widened and a slip road on to the highway could be constructed on Central Ave.

The plan involved the removal of 11 trees, some believed to be more than 100 years old, with work to cut them down due to start on Saturday morning.

However, protesters - numbering more than 100 at one point during the day, tore down a barbwire-topped fence and ran on to the part of the park that had been cordoned off to allow the work to go ahead and some climbed trees.

The protesters, including Whangarei District councillor Aaron Edwards, were jubilant when the contractors took away cutting equipment on Saturday afternoon, but yesterday morning a beefed up security contingent of about 40, supported by police, saw the work go ahead.

Many protesters were visibly upset that their efforts had failed.

Mr Edwards said he was sad that the trees had gone and felt there was no business case to remove them, given the traffic numbers along SH1 through the city had decreased by about 800,000 a year.

NZTA regional director for Northland/Auckland Stephen Towns said the extra security contingent was needed to ensure work proceeded.

"Our plan was to start [cutting the trees down] Saturday morning, but a small number of protesters got into the park and in the trees."

Mr Towns said NZTA went though due process in obtaining consent for the work and while traffic counts had gone down on SH1 in recent years, that had happened throughout the country during the recession.

"It's future-proofing. If we did cut back the project to a future date people will complain in five years time that we did not do an adequate job."

But for Hone Shortland, who helped organise the protests, there was no valid excuse to justify cutting down the trees.

"The trees are going, but people can be proud that they made their feelings known," Mr Shortland said.

"We've had thousands of people tooting support for us as they've driven past on SH1, but the council and NZTA have ignored all their voices."