Is it just ME?

Or should we give tree felling the chop?

I WAS sitting in my office at home a few weeks ago when it started: that terrible whine of a chainsaw followed by the scream of metal teeth hitting bark.

I tried to convince myself the towering sycamore by the railway at the end of my garden was being pollarded. But in my heart, I knew. In my London neighbourhood, Network Rail has taken a brutal approach to tackling leaves on the line. Barely a tree is left standing.

All day, the hideous noise went on, the chopping, then the chipper, leaving me full of impotent rage.

So I found myself cheering on Environment Secretary Michael Gove last week when he demanded Sheffield council cease its spate of tree felling, preventing the loss of 6,000 mature trees over a 25-year period.

The scheme has led to residents of spotless reputation being arrested for protesting against the arboreal armageddon, and it has tarnished the image of a city famous for its green credentials.

But this is a larger issue than one council. Trees make our lives healthier. They improve air quality by pulling pollutants into their leaves. In 2015, Chicago University researchers studied 30,000 Toronto residents and found where there were ten or more trees in a city block, people were healthier, less stressed and more likely to exercise.

Now, I see people acknowledging how uplifting it can be to cherish plants. In my corner of London, there’s hardly a scrap of soil that hasn’t been greened up by ‘ guerilla gardening’ — people taking it upon themselves to plant flowers and vegetables in public spaces.

You may not be able to plant a tree, but you can always scatter a packet of seeds — who knows what benefits in terms of health and happiness may come from that?

The awful noise of the chainsaw left me full of impotent rage