10/04/2021
My passion for saving trees came about after living a large part of my early life in Kenya before moving to Tiverton. There roads and vast swathes of new houses replace what were once huge, beautiful, indigenous trees and forests – something that is all too common everywhere we look these days. They are a shameful blot on the landscape, cutting through nature without care or regard for the fragile environments they replace.
If we are not careful this could easily happen here, so we must start to act NOW and protect our environment and natural habitats. Once they are lost, they will never return.
I see this happening already in Exeter and the surrounding areas, and I am genuinely fearful that the plans to build more of Exeter’s houses in our countryside (that the Lib Dems were sacked from Mid Devon Council’s Cabinet for stopping) will be revived if we do not keep challenging the ‘Build here’ mantra funded by cash-rich developers and their quockerwodgers in positions of local power. We should be investing in our environment, our future, and not private developers’ pockets who just develop and move on to level the next site leaving a few paltry rows of new trees in their wake.
The recent tragic loss of the ancient sweet Chestnut tree along Post Hill was for the sake of not building a new road a few feet further over. That tree was estimated to have been nearly 300 years old. It did not need to be felled. A few new trees elsewhere on the site will not offset that loss to generations of local birds, bats, and people. An entire eco system was destroyed for the sake of those few feet and some extra £ on the value of a home!
Making more people aware of this wanton and mindless destruction and not let it sneak in unopposed is going to be the biggest factor in saving our countryside. We need to form one voice, one group, to be aware of what we want - not only now but for our future and the generations that will follow us.
I want to be your voice for the beautiful town and villages we live in. Not to be anti-development, but to focus on sustainable home building. Encourage developers to think about trees and hedges first and not as a ‘quota’ to meet. Regenerate the existing buildings before building new ones. Make the landlords responsible for the upkeep of their premises. Tackle all the disrepair and invest in improvements to Tiverton for normal people like us.
I think we all have a responsibility to look after our fragile environment, to be aware of what’s going on in the areas we live in, and to stand up and have a voice for Mother Nature. With all the changes to our climate it has never been more important.
David Sutton for Lowman Ward, Tiverton Town Council, May 6th 2021
Focus on Castle & Lowman
