The council has reassured protesters and other concerned people that four of the six remaining poplars which were damaged during the felling will not die.

Parks Officer Paul Maxwell explained the damage was caused when one on of the contractors, who was ring barking all the trees before felling to make sure none had been sabotaged with metal spikes, started working on the wrong trees. As soon as the mistake was noticed he was stopped.

The parks department has now attached a bark graft to the damaged area on each tree which it is hoped will keep out infection and allow the trees to extract nutrients and water from the ground.

Protesters claimed that the damage done to the trees could be fatal and together with the Friends of Canbury Gardens they packed the base of the trees with moss in the hope of saving them.

But Mr Maxwell said: "The damage was never enough to kill the trees and although I applaud the effort, packing the base with moss would have had little effect.".

The Friends of Canbury Gardens who put up a row of crosses in the gardens last weekend to commemorate the axed trees are now pressing for the replanting scheme agreed last month to begin as soon as possible.

Patricia Fitzgibbon said the crosses had been put up partly to comfort the people who were still distressed by the fate of the trees and partly to draw attention to the fact that the battle is not over yet.

Ms Fitzgibbon added: "We also want a written guarantee that the plane trees along the river bank are not going to be felled and we would like this before the election."

Three candidates from the Poplar Party are also to fight for the Canbury ward in the elections.

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