A MAJOR restoration scheme in historic Saltaire will begin in the next week or so with the felling of an avenue of more than 30 mature trees in Victoria Road.

The now £720,000 project, which has been the subject of public consultation, saw three options put to residents. The final scheme will see Bradford Council repairing pavements, installing new street lighting and illuminating the lions outside Victoria Hall and Shipley College's premises.

Eight smaller replacement trees will be planted on one side of Victoria Road near Alexandra Square, with the species expected to be field maple, which could cost up to £8,000 each to buy and install.

This will result in the loss of the 32 mature trees, a mixture of horse chestnut, copper beech, Norway maple and rowan, which were planted in the 1950s and have now grown to block light from neighbouring houses, as well as affecting the nearby paving with their spreading roots.

Councillor Val Slater, the Council's executive member for housing, planning and transport, said: "The scheme will ultimately bring Victoria Road back to how it was originally, but with a modern twist. The trees were actually a 1950s intrusion, and the new scheme will open up the vista."

The expected schedule for the work should see all the trees removed this month, with contractors on site in February to start digging the holes ready for planting. The eight new trees will be of a species that is better suited to streets and will be about four metres in height and around ten-years-old.

New LED street lighting, which takes reference from the originals shown in old photographs and postcards of the road, should be installed by April.

Reclaimed Yorkstone kerbs and the existing paving will be used near the railway bridge. Elsewhere the existing Yorkstone kerbs will be retained and realigned where possible, and new Yorkstone paving will be used to replace the existing concrete slabs. A traditional fan paving detail will be used on the corners.

The complete restoration scheme is expected to finished by March 2016, with a substantial part completed in time for the Saltaire Festival in September.

Vanessa Pilny, chairman of Saltaire Village Society, previously told the Telegraph & Argus that she would have preferred to have kept some of the mature trees, but recognised that regulations now require a huge pit of three metres across for any tree, and that it was "almost impossible" to find any suitable location of the road.

She added: “However, people say the lighting looks fantastic and especially plans to light up the lions outside Victoria Hall.

“A lot of the old stone is going to be recycled and it will mean the pavements will be much safer and look better too.”