"Twice a year they have to come here and clear our sewerage pipes out because the trees' roots are growing into them and this has been going on for the last five or six years."
Mr Swain has been working on the Wilson St site for the last 35 years and said that years ago, council would prune the trees right back every year and they never had any problems.
"Now the problem isn't just the tops of the trees but the bottoms. The Probation Service office next door to us has the same problems with tree roots."
He said he and other business owners in the street felt the council was not listening.
He said trucks using Wilson St were often forced to drive down the middle of the road because the trees were encroaching too far off the kerb.
"It's not the truckies' fault, but it's downright dangerous. This is a street which has something like 6000 vehicle movements a day.
"The council has just planted the wrong type of trees. But if they're not going to get rid of the ones already here at least they need a heavy prune every year.
Mr Swain said the council was showing a reluctance to help businesses in Wilson St. "They're not the ones spending two hours in a morning cleaning up the leaves in autumn."
The redesign also suggests removing all parking from the southern side of the street but he said that penalised businesses.
Wanganui District councillor Ray Stevens, who holds the infrastructure portfolio, said council had met with property owners and officers were looking at the options with the council's tree advisory group.
He said the area was originally residential when many of the trees were planted but over time it has become a commercial precinct "so the trees are probably not appropriate".
"The speed at which this is moving, the trees are growing faster than we're making decisions."
