CONSERVATION campaigners have said the refurbished Worcester High Street has been completed for the benefit of big business, not visitors.

Greenpeace has accused the city council of deliberately going back on the original plans to keep existing trees along the historic thoroughfare and creating a bog standard street.

But the city council has defended the £1.3m refurbishment project - which visitors were seeing completed for the first time today.

It claims service cables spread underneath the street and an unknown underground chamber forced the changes.

"They say they didn't realise there were cellars but surely if anyone has access to those plans it is the city council," said Worcester Greenpeace co-ordinator Pete Robinson.

"That should have been taken into account because the people of Worcester wanted to keep some of the trees and some of the shade.

"The over-riding issue was people not being able to see shop signs from the bottom of the street to the top.

"They've been totally and utterly driven by the demands of business rather than the people who elected them. That's no way forward for a council.

"The feeling I get from people I've spoken to is it is just like any other town, if anything it has detracted from the attractiveness."

City council engineer Andy Walford said some of the existing trees had to be replaced by new ones because their roots would not grow above the chamber.

"You don't stick rigidly to a plan when you've identified a reason you can't do something. What we've ended up with is a high-quality paving scheme," he said.

"Greenpeace haven't got to answer for a tree falling on someone's head, I do.

"It's not a decision we took lightly but we did it for reasons of safety.

Cheers to all the retailers

RETAILERS in Worcester have been praised for their patience over the High Street renovation as the city centre parties today to mark the end of the works.

Derek Prodger, who has been elected chairman of Worcestershire County Council for a second year, said he was delighted with the reaction from shops.

"It has been a difficult time for everyone - you can't do a major project like this without affecting people.

"But I am delighted by the reaction of retailers, who have chosen to turn the end of the works into a big party."

Big stores such as Marks & Spencer, Next, Woolworths, Debenham's and the Co-op are to offer free food and drink and discounts off designer clothes in the one-day festival.

They say people were driven away in their droves by the £1.3m works and they now hope to entice shoppers back in as the constructors move out.