Lost trees

The controversial deplorable destruction of shading trees and lush vegetation framing the walled burial mound embracing St Bartholomew's Church in Mount Lane (beloved of Westgate residents and walkers alike) between the 10th and 12th January defies comprehension.

This senseless act of desecration flouts Chichester District Council's proclamation of its new biodiversity strategy designed to mitigate catastrophic global heating, not by brutally axing those few proud mature trees surviving the slings and arrows of outrageous climate change, but by sustaining urban nature through planting more trees and flowering plants (with a ban on pesticides killing pollinating bees).

The Chair of Westgate Residents Association, together with The Chichester Conservation Area Advisory Committee, bravely fought tooth and nail to retain all that has now been lost.

The poet John Keats (commemorated in last week's edition) describes in Endymion 'A bower quiet for us and a sleep full of sweet dreams and health and quiet breathing' where 'trees old and young sprout a shady boon to bind us to the earth [despite] despondence of the inhuman dearth of all the unhealthy and o'erdarkened ways. In spite of all, some shape of beauty moves away the pall. A thing of beauty is a joy forever'.

But sadly, no. All that remains is a blank despair: just one unbefriended solitary conifer (hopefully protected by a tree preservation order).

The churchyard's treeshaded mount helped to mitigate Westgate's toxic polluted air emitted by noisy tightly-congested traffic.

But now nearly all those lovely dark and deep trees have gone, brutally hacked down following a decision to desecrate a once hallowed idyllic setting. Passers-by will now behold a few dismal stumps.

This dreadful inexcusable act of appalling vandalism blindly ignores our human-caused climate crisis threatening mental well being and physical health.

The continuing loss of habitat biodiversity is unsustainable. We're all accountable for our actions, not least those vested with civic authority purportedly protecting life on earth in all its rich diversity.