CHERRY trees will continue to grow along a famous walkway in Harrogate.

Suggestions that Cherry Tree Way across The Stray should be replaced with other species have been dropped.

Instead, 30 new cherry trees will replace those which have to be cut down having become diseased or vandalised.

The cherry trees, which line a footpath from Leeds Road to York Place, have often been featured on postcards and in the Harrogate guidebook.

The original 100 trees, of which 50 remain, were planted to mark the Queen's Coronation in 1953.

Councillor Pat Jones, borough council cabinet member for leisure services, who refused to back the scheme for other varietes, said: "A generation has enjoyed these trees and now future generations will be able to enjoy the blossom for years to come."

She will launch the replanting scheme next week.