Kauri's life in developers' hands: council

The fate of a 500-year-old kauri tree lies in the hands of developers after Auckland Council refused to rescue it from the axe.

The ancient tree in Titirangi was saved on Monday morning after a group of 50 locals showed up to protest its removal by contractors.

The arborists left after protester Michael Tavares, who heard of the protest via Twitter, climbed 25 metres up the tree's trunk and refused to budge.

He told Radio New Zealand he was "prepared to spend some time up here."

"I'm safe up here so long as work isn't attempted to fell this or other trees near it."

Auckland Council is sticking to its original decision to grant consent for the removal of the trees to make way for building improvements.

In a statement released on Monday, the council's resource consent manager David Oakhill said council assessed the ecological value of the site and was satisfied developers would keep environmental effects to a minimum.

"In fact, the developers have elected to build the houses close to the road which minimises the number of trees that needs to be removed because there will be no long driveways," Mr Oakhill said.

Asked what happens now, an Auckland Council spokeswoman said the removal decision was in the hands of developers.

Protest organiser and local resident Aprilanne Bonar said she was relieved their actions won the tree a last-minute reprieve but said more work was needed to convince the Parnell-based developers from pushing forward.

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Kauri's life in developers' hands: council