Tree pruning raises residents' ire

Furious residents called The Times offices yesterday to complain that the trees at Mriehel bypass have been heavily over-pruned leaving them with only their main stalk and a few large branches.

The residents said that birds' nests and small dead birds, which must have still been in their nest when the trees were pruned, were found after the workers had left.

Some of the residents described the trees as having been "brutalised" and others said they had been "legally vandalised".

But Carlos Calamatta, from the Environmental Landscape Consortium, said the trees, Eucalyptus, had not been pruned for a long time and needed some heavy work so that they could be reshaped.

Such pruning, he said, was needed every two to 10 years and it revitalised the trees.

He said that since Eucalytus trees were very fast growers, they would not be without foliage for long.