ON a Christmas day walk by the river I was dismayed to learn that it is planned to fell all 30 or so of the Lombardy Poplars that so beautifully punctuate the landscape of the Salisbury Avon just to the north of the city.

The council planning notices say that this is necessary because they are diseased. (I can't help recalling that the same was said of the plane trees in Salisbury market square, until the public outcry at those plans led to a reprieve, and strangely an end to talk of dangerously diseased trees.) I am no tree doctor though, and there may well be a problem with the poplars, although the majority at present look sturdy enough. The council plan is to eventually replace them, but I fear once the trees are gone these good intentions may disappear with them.

Rather than decimating this historic landscape with a mass felling of trees, it would surely be possible to remove the worst affected each year and plant with replacements?

This would spread the costs to the council, perhaps over ten or 20 years, and effect a less painful transition for the area. It would seem a much better way to manage our precious landscape.

Living in Hope,

John Gustard

A spokesperson for the city council said it was agreed at a council meeting in September to replace these trees. The council has said all of the trees brought down will be replaced with a mixture of poplar and other decent sized trees for diversity.