Jacob Caffery, 7, and Breah Jones, 10, were unimpressed with the way the trees in their neighborhood were trimmed.

A half done pruning job on rows of pohutukawa trees in Waitara has left residents unimpressed at the way it makes the town look.

One row of trees growing under powerlines on Centennial Ave and another row near lines on Princess St were trimmed over the holiday period but only one side of each tree was touched, leaving the other half uncut.

Amy Olson said she and her children first noticed the trees on Monday morning while they were walking back from the holiday park and said it looked like something out of a cartoon.

SIMON O'CONNOR/Fairfax NZ About seven trees on Centennial Ave in Waitara were trimmed.

"I thought the neighbours must have done it and then as we walked down the street I realised it was all of them," she said.

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"It just looks ridiculous. It looks like something you'd see on The Simpsons, like on a cartoon."

SIMON O'CONNOR/Fairfax NZ A row of trees on Princes St were all cut.

It is unknown who is responsible for trimming the trees but Jacqueline Baker of the New Plymouth District Council said the trees were trimmed "in the usual way for safety reasons by a NPDC contractor".

Olson said when she posted a photo of the trees onto her Facebook page, some of her friends thought it was a joke.

"One person asked 'did you photoshop it just for a laugh' and I'm like no, it actually is there," she said.

SIMON O'CONNOR/Fairfax NZ It appeared the trees had been trimmed to clear them away from the power lines but only half of each tree had been cut.

The funny looking trees, which lined the street near the town's campsite, were not a good look for a town that was trying to improve its image, she said.

"It's embarrassing especially at this time of year when we have visitors and they're driving down ot the camping ground and that's what they see."

"That's all I keep thinking is, it has to be a joke."

Her daughter Breah Jones, 10, and son Jacob Geffery, 7, were both unimpressed with the trees.

"It's hideous," ​Breah said.

"They should have cut the whole thing down instead of cutting half of them."

"It's weird," Jacob added.

Facebook users who commented on Olson's photo on the Taranaki Daily News Facebook page were similarly unimpressed.

"They probably paid a lot of money to a arborist to stuff up the trees," Kerry Taylor said.

"Looks bloody terrible!" Lisa Melville added.

Kaye Meuli said the trees were outside her house.

"Rang council and complained, got told he MIGHT come out for a drive to inspect," she said.

"I asked why they were cut this way, wrong time of year for pruning, and they are not balanced."