IT was good to read the reasons why the Kennet councillors and officers and the Devizes Town Centre Partnership decided to replace the plane trees in the Market Place, Devizes.

It is understandable a number of people would object to removing the trees but it was made clear by the professionals that they were not in the best of condition and could become dangerous.

Should a branch have fallen on some unfortunate's car or worse still their head would the protesters, or the Gazette pay compensation? Just imagine the furore if that happened.

A correspondent said 7,659 people had objected but as this comprised two petitions, no doubt many signing both, probably it was considerably less.

Furthermore if someone approaches you with a piece of payer saying: "They are going to cut down the trees in the Market Place, do you object?" most people will say yes and sign.

A better criterion would be the number of individual letters received but even these are only really valid if the writer is fully aware of all the facts.

As I understand it the committee contained a number of people committed to the well-being of Devizes.

It is hard to imagine why so much vitriol has been poured on the heads of our representatives who after all were acting on the best advice available.

They all must be feeling extremely hurt and the councillors are perhaps wondering why they are giving up so much of their time in the first place.

In a couple of years time, when the Market Place alterations have settled down, occasional visitors to the town will be saying how much better it looks these days, unless of course most of the cars can be moved down to the Station Road car park when, of course, they will be raving about it.

As a newcomer to the area I find Devizes a wonderful place. The people are so friendly especially the shop assistants and the architecture is stunning.

Perhaps now the "battle" appears to be almost over everyone can return to the important business of how to regain a nearby rail link, a through coach service which runs more than once a day and proper bypasses to take much of the through traffic out of the town .

JOHN GARNER

Highlands, Devizes