The latest terror victims... Whitehall's trees

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For 60 years they have towered over some of London's most famous thoroughfares, admired by strolling tourists and office workers.

But now 12 landmark trees around Whitehall are being chopped down to be replaced by concrete barriers and bollards - for security reasons.

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Timber... one of the Whitehall trees is felled

At a time when Gordon Brown has pledged to make environmental issues one of his key priorities, the decision to chop down trees just yards from No 10 has been criticised by Tory MPs and environmental groups.

Conservative environment spokesman Peter Ainsworth said he was 'depressed and unhappy' at the loss of the trees, which he said made the environment 'another victim of the so-called War on Terror'.

Six trees will disappear from Whitehall, three from neighbouring Parliament Street, two from Horse Guards Avenue and one from Privy Gardens. They are London Plane, Maidenhair and Oak. The work was due to be completed by the end of the weekend.

Although notices about the project have been put up by Westminster City Council outside the Treasury, there is no mention of felling trees.

The council says it will plant 20 more trees in the area, but Mr Ainsworth said that was not good enough.

"I think it's hugely depressing. Nobody seems to have been made aware of this and had the chance to oppose it,' he said.

"The visible impact of the so-called War on Terror has so far been the removal of litter bins and installing ugly concrete barriers, and now we're having trees cut down.

"It will permanently change the appearance of Whitehall. These trees are landmarks in Central London.

"It will be years down the line before any new trees are established but it's too late to do anything about it.

"I'm getting pretty hacked off with the way the environment is suffering because of security: ugly bollards, no litter bins for the thousands of tourists pouring through London, and now no trees."

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A tree awaiting the chop, and the bollards which will instead dominate the streetscape

The cull is part of a £25million 'streetscape' scheme agreed six months before the recent attempted bomb attacks on Central London. But a council spokesman has admitted that national security was one of the reasons for it.

The Whitehall Streetscape Project will see pavements widened and renewed, bus shelters moved and lights upgraded. Traffic could be affected for up to five months.

Martin Low, the council's director of transportation, said: "The project has been carefully designed to create a far more spacious and better integrated street layout.

"Part of this work involves the removal or relocation of up to 12 trees in and around Whitehall. They will, however, be replaced with 20 new or relocated trees to ensure that the area remains a world-class destination.

"The council has extensive experience of carrying out large scale infrastructure projects and is confident that the Whitehall Streetscape Project will create a cleaner brighter and safer environment for residents, tourists and workers alike."

A council spokesman added: "The project does incorporate a number of security measures so there is an element of security to it."

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