The first cut in the latest round of drastic pruning came off the top of the historic ‘Aspen' necklace poplar, cottonwood tree on the McLean Street reserve this morning.

The tree, which is now considered dangerous after it dropped an eight tonne branch on McLean Street on January 17, is being considerably shortened to make the reserve safe for Tauranga Jazz Festival patrons.

An arborist begins cutting on central Tauranga's historic tree.

The plan is to cut 7-10 metres off the tree today to ensure the safety of the event.

The remaining trunk and stonewall will be completely removed after Easter.

The 146 year old tree is in decline and in increasing danger of collapse, says independent arborist Paul Kenny, in a report to the Tauranga City Council.

He says the necklace poplar is rotting inside and the roots that hold it up are also failing and structural roots on the southern and western sides of the tree are 'in significant decline”.

The internal rot is so severe that in spite of 30 tonnes of weight removed from the tree by Arbor Care in the days after the branch fell, still more has to be cut to make the tree safe.

A crane is being used to lower the sawn boughs.

The trunk is hollow and too weak even to support the current significantly reduced branch structure. The remaining branches are also rotting inside. It is unsafe in its present state.

The council was faced with the option of restricting public access to the reserve and cutting the tree back further to prevent it hitting adjacent buildings if it fell.

If they decided to keep it, regular pruning and inspections would be required to monitor the risk of a structural failure, and further drastic pruning may still be required.

Since January 17, the total cost of the branch failure, clean up, the ensuing cut back and independent assessment has cost $9817.64 plus GST.

A council decision was required because felling the historic tree requires resource consent.