IT HAS come to my attention that the council is considering cutting down a copse of mature sycamore trees on Hob Moor on the grounds that “they are out of keeping with the moor and that they intrude on the pasture land”.

These trees are in a corner of Hob Moor and provide, in hot and wet weather, shelter for walkers, cyclists and cattle. They also offer nesting sites and food source for birds, insects and butterflies.

In this age of global warming, no trees should be cut down unless they are diseased or dangerous. There are plenty of older trees in and around York that cause damage to footpaths and roads with their roots; these should come down, not ones in a wide-open spaces that are an added feature to the landscape.

Deforestation of the Amazon rain forest started in a small way, and look at the state of it now. But it would seem that with the controversial proposal for Union Terrace car park and this further suggestion, the new City of York Council seem to be set on upsetting the people who voted them in. Let them not forget, they can just as easily be voted out.

AP Cox, Heath Close, Holgate, York.