A Pillans Point resident is calling Tauranga City Council's removal of a number of unsafe trees from a nearby walkway an 'absolute disgrace”.

Council contracted arborists have been working their way along McArdles Bush walkway, between Goods Road and Coach Drive in Otumoetai, clearing trees and scrub in an attempt to make the walkway safer.

Pillans Point resident Kathy Fathers in front of the McArdles Bush walkway before it is cleared.

The walkway after.

The walkway has been intermittedly closed between 9am and 4pm for the last two weeks, while arborists remove trees and bush with a chipper, mulcher and bobcat – something resident Kathy Fathers believes is a path of destruction.

'People I have talked to just can't believe it is being done. They just had a big bulldozer that just took everything down on the side of the track,” says Kathy.

'Why can't they just go through with chainsaws and not get rid of everything?”

Tauranga City Council arborist Richard Conning says the work is part of dual purpose operation to ensure public safety and tidy up the area. He says a number of trees have fallen across the walkway posing a potential threat to walkers in the last few months.

'They keep falling over and there were large logs left over from previous falls. So we are going to get it all out and then clear the track for public safety and to tidy it up,” says Richard.

'We have taken out primarily weeds and trees; large ones that have a long history of falling over across the track. The main ones are Robinia and Lombardy poplar.”

After the operation, council will be maintaining ongoing weed control before planting native trees and shrubs in the area vacated by the large trees.

But Kathy remains concerned with what she believes is a heavy handed approach to tree removal.

'It was a beautiful bush walk that you could walk through listening to the Tuis. I'm very annoyed as it was one of my favourites; and now it's just an eye sore,” says Kathy.

'The council have been in there with a bulldozer and it's an absolute disgrace. I guess they are the so called experts; they always have a logical answer for everything.”