Is this Holy Oak wood slowly becoming a vast slab of concrete?

There is harm done to people each and every time a mature tree is cut down.

This town has issues that only nature can help in fixing, mental health being one, and understanding air pollution surrounding urban dwellings should be also paramount. This goes hand in hand with a headless approach to trees and nature. Don’t you think you need mature trees? They are not replaceable and replanting is a mindless exercise.

It would appear that each time a mature tree is taken off the public green, it is for trivial reasons and as a result public money is used to replace it with a ‘tree.’ Planting young trees can cost between £100 and £500 depending on age, variety and site. I believe the Council has a duty to be transparent with the local community rather than play on people’s innocent hesitancy on trees and public green in general and budgeting fundings.

Furthermore, there appears to be often a display of superiority and self-importance by some Councillors when they work with developers. It is a too common occurrence in the now modern-ages and should be perceived as offensive by people rather than accepted. They have got their priorities all wrong and you, the people, will only realise the damage done to your heritage the day that your future adults will turn back at you asking how to explain to their kids how you let this happen.

Trees have genetics on their own, and with the pollution we see today no trees in urban semi natural settings can be as good as his parent plants were. Mature trees provide a much higher level of benefit compared to young perishable leafy sticks used in urban areas.

Did you know that Council departments are keen on trees, which growth is limited and foliage is resistant most of the year? These trees are specifically engineered and chosen for their characteristic qualities of fast growth as they reach maturity in much smaller size.

For Councils these trees are more economical in the long term as they are easily controlled and shaped, don’t ‘invade’ the space with big solid branches and tall large solid trunks and are easy to cut.

These mature plants are the lungs of the earth, they enrich the soil and air with the most valuable chemistry and exchange for the environment and surroundings including humans.

All flora and fauna a mile next to a mature tree benefit from it being there, and humans are part of that chain too. People preposterously disregard them and feel safe in their new cars smiling at silly red squirrels crunching away on branches.

There is a good chance that the squirrels are laughing back at you. With lack of public consultation breaching many regulations, imposing change on local people for the joint interest Council shares with developers should end.

Where it stands, the ‘public’ interest should be investigated. There is basically almost no quality trees left in urban areas here. The rule in the 1960s was that trees are to be cut off because they drop leaves.

Still living in the 60s? A grotesque sad twist in a place which once was a Holy Oak wood and now is a slate of cement with few surviving emaciated trees bothering you for dropping leaves on the tarmac.

Yours sincerely,

Flavio Marchesi