Four London plane trees overhanging the Tauranga Courthouse building are being pruned over the next couple of weeks.

The reasoning is because the trees' leaf drop collects in the courthouse's gutters and downpipes.

And after strong winds, small branches drop onto the footpath and surrounding roads causing problems for customers accessing the courthouse, and users of the cycle lane along the eastern side of Cameron Road.

With permission from Tauranga City Council, qualified arborists began substantial crown reduction pruning works last week.

One court case was adjourned while a message was sent to the arborists to cease using a chainsaw.

Ministry of Justice general manger commercial and property Fraser Gibbs says court was adjourned for about 10 minutes while the arborists replaced a petrol powered saw with a battery powered one.

'The work will resolve impacts to the building and improve safety on the site, adjacent footpaths, and roads while maintaining the landmark trees in a safe and healthy condition,” says Fraser.

Weather permitting, the pruning work is expected to be completed later this month.

The pruning comes two years after the courthouse was re-roofed at a cost of about $835,000.

The building was plagued with leaks ever since it was remodelled with internal guttering in 1995.

After heavy rain, it was not unusual for court cases to be moved to other court rooms as water was often pouring into court room one from flooded internal gutters. Floods also occurred in the law library and the administration offices.

'The courthouse was built under four large protected London Plane trees on the District Court grounds,” says Fraser.

The roof and gutter design wasn't changed but they installed removable gutter guards to minimise leaves blocking gutters.

London Plane trees drop a large volume of leaves and therefore the work underway will trim the trees below the roof line of the courthouse.

The trees have not been pruned in recent years.