Sir, – Rather than not planting trees in urban areas and along roadsides, as suggested by a letter-writer (October 19th), I suggest suitable trees should be planted. In Ireland, we can grow a great variety of large shrubs and small trees, such as the mountain ash and the Japanese maple.
In our local estate, trees such as sycamore and ash are planted close to boundary walls, where they are now twice the height of the houses.
All they do is block out the rare bit of sunlight we get, fill gutters with leaves, and with more than four metres of bare stem, provide minimal screening.
Planting unsuitable trees in grass margins leads to constant pruning to prevent them growing into overhead wires, hitting off buses and trucks and blocking street lighting. Let’s keep our urban areas just as leafy but at a suitable level. – Yours, etc,
JAMES MICHAEL GOOD,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.