What a miserable blowhard letter from Adrian Noble (letters, 2 May) in which he advocates slaughtering our Borough’s trees. According to well-known UKIP activist Mr Noble, trees have no place outside of parks.

He argues that they are a nuisance, and effectively should be massacred because of some minor inconveniences in his beautifully tree-lined road in the Crescent, Belmont. Most people would consider themselves very lucky to live in a street so abundantly furnished with trees.

Trees remain one of the reasons why Sutton is a nice place to live, despite the best attempts of the Council to kill them. That is why I congratulate the recent actions of Sutton South Conservative Councillor Tony Shields for his principled stand against the planned felling of a truly magnificent tree in Langley Park Road. Whereas Tony got stuck in to defend this century old green asset, Mr Noble would have stood aside and grinned as the axes swung into action.

For a council that brandishes a tree as its logo, Sutton Council does not have a great record on protecting them. In the period 2004-06 it replanted only 19.5% of the trees it cut down and in 2007-08 replaced just 59.5%. In 2008-09 alone, the number of trees cut down stood at 328 with a tree planting policy of replacing a miniscule 80 new trees per year.

If we’re not careful Sutton will end up as a drab concrete jungle. I don’t want the rest of Sutton to look like its high street, grey, concrete and depressing, unlike Mr Noble it would seem.

Jason Hughes
South Sutton