Concreting over Kent

sir – The Prince of Wales’s comments about developers planting and tending trees (“Builders plant trees and leave them to die, warns Prince”, report, November 10) provoked quite a reaction in our community in Faversham, Kent.

This “Market Town of Kings”, home to 20,000 people, is threatened with a 320-acre development of 2,500 houses on its south-east border, where land has been put forward for the local plan by its owner, the Duchy of Cornwall.

This will ruin 320 acres of prime agricultural green fields and comes on top of other losses of green fields amounting to about 150 acres, also now under concrete. Wildlife is not being considered, although locals are exhausting their own meagre resources trying to engage the Duchy’s office in this aspect of the development.

How is Britain going to achieve net zero emissions if it covers over carbon sinks with concrete? How is the sewage system going to cope in the South East when Southern Water cannot cope now and was recently fined £90 million for sewage releases into our water systems and seas? How is Britain going to meet its increasing need to grow food?

Sadly the Garden of England is being turned into Concrete County by landowners, and by boroughs and local councils that are too frightened to challenge the Government’s policy on house building. This is, of course, governed by developers’ greed, not housing need.

Carol Goatham

Faversham, Kent

sir – The Prince of Wales is absolutely correct that to neglect newly planted trees is fatal. The only thing they really need is regular watering in the spring and summer for at least the first two years.

Surely it would not be asking too much of the nearby householders to keep an eye out during dry periods. Locals could be consulted on their willingness to join with like-minded people, which would guarantee the future survival of the trees.

Alan Ripley

Polstead, Suffolk