Thousands have signed a petition calling for the council to scrap plans to cut down mature trees in Canterbury high street.

The five long-standing trees in St George’s Street have been described as “the lungs of the city”, absorbing CO2 while providing shade, habitat for wildlife, and boosting wellbeing.

But they are set to be ripped up and replaced with 14 "semi-mature trees", as part of the city council’s £1 million project to transform the “tired and dated” area into a “leafy boulevard”.

The plan has sparked outrage across the city. Resident Claire Coulson has launched a petition calling on the council to leave the trees, and has garnered more than 3,000 signatures in one week.

A city centre protest is also planned for this Saturday.

Throwing her weight behind the campaign is Labour city councillor Mel Dawkins.

On Saturday, she carried out a questionnaire of more than 800 people in the city centre, with hundreds voting in favour of keeping the trees.

“They couldn’t believe that five perfectly healthy mature trees were being chopped down for space for 14 semi-mature trees and bushes,” she said.

“There is a huge public outcry. Trees take years to establish, and when planting they have to settle well, to thrive and survive.

“Although maintained, there is still no guarantee the plants will take to their new environment, especially one such as the high street, where there is a heavy footfall and high risk of vandalism.”

Canterbury District Green Party is also calling for an immediate halt to the planned felling of the two ash trees, two lime and one silver maple.

Party member Anna Peckham branded the proposal “senseless vandalism”.

She said: “In a climate emergency, felling trees is a very odd thing to do and is deeply concerning.

“There is no justification for destroying these urban trees, which provide huge environmental benefit.”

Clare Turnbull, who was recently elected as the city council’s first-ever Green Party representative, added: “I am shocked that the council is even considering removing mature trees in the midst of a climate emergency.”

Canterbury City Council says the petition "will be considered in due course".

But it stresses the trees due to be cut down do not include the large tree situated where St George's Street meets Rose Lane, which many have wrongly assumed is included in the plan.

A spokesman added: "The project to enhance St George's Street has now been approved by a majority of councillors on three separate occasions at the various committees, so all of the matters raised in the petition have been properly considered with the support of an extensive officer report.

"We have also carried out two public consultations and in the most recent one, 67% of people agreed that improvements are needed to St George's Street to some extent and 58% supported removing five trees and planting 14 new ones.

"While we will remove one tree near Fenwick and four others in two groups of two in that section of St George's Street, the 14 new semi-mature trees will be planted in a new avenue, with the intention of creating a much softer, greener and leafy feel along the entire length of the street.

"The committee report also made it clear that from the second decade onwards, the new trees will be sequestering carbon at a higher rate than the existing trees.

"Overall, the improved layout of the area is being designed to bring environmental benefits including increasing the summer cooling and shade during the projected hotter drier summers, making the area more attractive to move through and visit by pedestrians, and increasing the number of trees in the centre of the city."

Those taking part in Saturday's protest are invited to gather at midday by the junction of Canterbury Lane and St George's Street.