Space hogging concrete tree holders on Queen Street will be dispatched to the history books by the Bermuda Day holiday, says Corporation of Hamilton Secretary Roger Sherratt.

In their places - if the money can be found - will be lampposts with hanging baskets for greenery.

About 16 of what one Letter to the Editor referred yesterday to as "Sherratts" were installed on the sidewalk a few years ago in keeping with the Corporation's policy of putting greenery on urban streets.

The move frustrated locals who complained that they were unsightly and impeded sidewalk traffic. The Corporation then moved the tree holders onto the streets - but that too has proved a losing proposition with commuters who complained that they gobble up rare parking spaces.

About eight of the offending tree holders have already been removed and the rest should be gone by the end of the weekend, Mr. Sherratt said yesterday. The development is coincidental to the printing of a Letter to the Editor in yesterday's Royal Gazette which complained that the "tanks" contained "struggling trees surrounded by a sea of cigarette butts which are certainly not adding to the beautification of Hamilton".

Beautification is what the Corporation had in mind when the things were installed. Queen Street, according to Mr. Sherratt is one of the few streets in Hamilton with no trees. But it soon decided to remove the tree holders altogether because of all the complaints from the motoring and pedestrian public.

The trouble was that the Corporation could find no alternative - until now. But while the concrete tree holders will be gone, some $140,000 has to be raised to purchase and install the new street lights and hanging baskets. Mr. Sherratt, who as Secretary has an administrative role in the affairs of the Corporation and does not set policy, was puzzled as to why the letter writer said that the despised concrete boxes were "known around town as 'Sherratts'".

"I think that's a bit of a joke," he said.