Most local people feel they have not been consulted on this issue and they have not had time to voice their wish that the felling of scrub be stopped at least until the summer, when the first survey in ten years will be carried out by Wiltshire Wildlife.

We, as campaigners, are being led the merry dance of applying to the correct committee to put this issue on the agenda.

Our late application is a reflection of the lack of public consultation rather than lethargy or ignorance.

Meanwhile, at Old Sarum, the gnashing of saws grinds through the air and the smell of burnt wood, which should evoke pleasant memories, now fills all of us who walk there with utter dread.

Spring is coming and with it will come willow warblers, blackcap, robin, wren, tawny owls, kestrels and sparrow hawk, dunnock, stonechat and nightingales, which all nest in that woodland.

Turtle doves can be heard with bull finches, blue tits, great tits and green finches. Stoats, weasels, deer and many other mammals make their refuge in this beautiful but "useless" wild place.

I say "useless" because such a woodland is not of any use to battle re-enactments or busloads of tourists. Yet would it not be a travesty to lose this unique habitat so close to a city centre? Does not every one of us feel blessed to have such a resource within walking distance of our own houses?

Who is this scrub clearance for? Certainly not for local people who like it just the way it is.

These decisions are made quickly, before the bewildered citizens have time to rally. Were we to take the preservation of Old Sarum to the nth degree, we should, as one campaigner suggested, totally denude it of trees and grass, exposing the chalk and keeping it nice and wet and slippery so no foe can enter.

Maybe this is why it is being done. Then there would be no encroachment whatever on the monument for fear of erosion. No walkers of any kind, no joggers, nor bird-lovers.

Naturally the wildlife will also go, and, with all the scrub gone, it will all be nice and tidy and tame. Then it will be truly preserved, sanitised and embalmed.

Then, no doubt, English Heritage would be happy. Then it will be useful.
MEIHSIAN PROCTOR, Salisbury

The original landscape of much of Wiltshire is chalk downland, of which precious little remains. Any attempt to reinstate some of this should be applauded.

May I also take this opportunity, through your column, to request that all dog walkers at Old Sarum clean up after their dogs.

Every time I walk with my family around the monument one of us ends up with dogs' mess on our shoes.

This also seems to be a particular problem on the river path near the Leisure Centre and on Bishopdown, at the top of St Marks' Avenue.
EMILY COOPER, Salisbury

Horror that we, knowing what we do about the importance of diverse ecosystems, should stand by as the decimation of these vital resources takes place.

Here in Salisbury the destruction of the woodland on Old Sarum acts as a small but significant metaphor and object lesson.

Yes, the preservation of Old Sarum is important, albeit a monument to man's bellicose aggression and paranoia.

Even more important, however, must be the preservation of what wildness there is at the site.

Surely the two objectives are not so mutually exclusive that a balance cannot be struck.

Let those who see this bigger picture apply all the pressure we can to the authorities to at least halt the present phase of destruction until a proper consultation and evaluation has taken place.
HOWARD TAYLOR, Salisbury

Very similar comments were made by the local people then as are being made now.

English Heritage sent an expert on the maintenance of ancient sites to the planning meeting and he made it clear to us that tree and shrub cover would, over a period of time, erode the steep banks and that grazing sheep on them and keeping them clear of trees and shrubs was the only way to maintain the site in the long term.

We were convinced by his technical arguments.
CLLR BILL MOSS, Winterslow

2:54pm Thursday 31st January 2008

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