City Centre's Disappearing Greenery

Yesterday evening I noticed that the street scene at the corner of Victoria Street and Bricket Road had changed - and instead of looking at a mature hedge of bushes, I was instead staring directly into an ugly paved car park. The bushes that were there have been completely hacked down.

Work to remove the hedge, which had provided a rare dose of greenery in the City Centre and shielded the view from the street of the car park and surrounding buildings, appears to be ongoing, with a small number of bushes still remaining.

Just last week, a local restaurant came under fire for allowing contractors to "mutilate" a large London Plane tree. The tree, in the garden of Kamillo's Restaurant, located in a Conservation area, at the corner of London Road and Marlborough Road was a local landmark.

Both these incidents highlight the lack of greenery in our City Centre, as well as the need to protect what's left of it.