SHOPPERS will temporarily wave goodbye to Redditch's famous palm trees on Monday when they are chopped down to make way for the Worcester Square redevelopment.

The nine trees, which have been the focal point of the Kingfisher Shopping Centre for 25 years, will be removed after experts advised they had come to the end of their natural life.

However, new palm trees will replace them as soon as the redevelopment of Worcester Square is completed at the end of the summer.

Ian McLelland, the centre's commercial director, said: "We would have loved to put the new palms straight back in as the old ones are removed but we need to level off Worcester Square first."

He said that although the square would be closed off, shoppers would still be able to walk around the edge.

"There will be a reduction in the amount of seating for the time of the redevelopment but once the new palms are in place there will be benches around each of the planting pots for people to sit on," he added.

Mr McLelland flew to Holland to choose the new trees from a specialist supplier and they will be delivered once renovation work is complete. So far, he has bought five trees with the chance to buy more if necessary.

Each tree costs about £2,000, with a further £20,000 being spent on planting pots.

But Mr McLelland said it was money well spent. "The Kingfisher Centre is getting better and better and we just want to keep that up," he said.