Dismayed at the removal of trees

I am contacting you on behalf of a large group of people who are increasingly concerned about the level of tree removal in one of Hastings’ most significant landmarks, Alexandra Park.

Over the last year or so, the scale of removal has accelerated significantly, with a huge number of mature, iconic trees being removed throughout the park, significantly reducing its value to the both the residents of Hastings and visitors considerably.

The park is renowned for it diversity of mature trees.

Only today, I noticed that a beautiful, established willow tree, positioned above (and really part of) the memorial to Billy Jo Jenkins, is marked for removal.

This seems like blatant vandalism at best and is the second willow tree to be removed from this part of the park.

I have contacted the council to try and understand who has the authority to determine which trees are being removed and the auditing of this to ensure that the reasons are absolutely sound.

I am very aware that the tree surgeons who undertake on the tree removal work in the park are also engaged in selling the logs from this timber around the town.

This would seems like a significant conflict of interest and even perhaps encourages further tree removal.

Even if the reasons for this widespread tree removal are sound, surely any money generated from the sale of the timber should be being reinvested into maintenance of the park.

We have contacted the council (case-58993676), but have not yet had a response.