Tree protesters call for councils' watchdog

The protesters, many of whom had staged a round-the-clock vigil at the surviving London plane tree in The Market Place after contractors felled the other two in the early hours of October 7, want to set up an organisation called Devizes Guardians.

They want it to monitor the activities of the three councils town, district and county after many hundreds of complaints about changes to the Market Place.

Newsagent Tony Duck, who chaired the meeting, said he was delighted with the turnout, which showed the strength of feeling among townspeople. He said the handling of the changes in the Market Place, especially the felling of the tree, had been a public relations disaster.

Although he congratulated the councils for their efforts to bring the County Record Office to Devizes, and particularly the town council for refurbishing the Corn Exchange, he warned changes could not be brought in without local people going along with them.

He said: "Local government is the basis of all democracy. Councillors are elected to serve, not to govern, but the distinction has been lost recently."

He said the proposed group would be called the Devizes Guardians as a tribute to the people who guarded the remaining tree for 11 days until a promise was extracted from Kennet District Council that it would remain.

He drew the audience's attention to the questionnaire that had been distributed at the meeting, asking if there was support for another new group in the town. People were asked if they would be prepared to help run the group, pay a small annual subscription and stand as a candidate for one of the local councils. Another question asked: "Do you believe the town would be better served by non-political councillors?"

Copies of the questionnaire will be available from Ducks Newsagents in Maryport Street or Socks and Tops in The Ginnel.

Nigel Holman, the bank manager who co-ordinated the campaign to keep the trees in the Market Place, called for three cheers for Adrian Bull, who parked his car under the surviving tree to prevent the contractors chopping it down, and Mark Watkins, who climbed the tree at 4.30am on the Sunday morning because he had heard rumours the contractors were due to start work very early.

Mr Holman said Kennet District Council had ignored public opinion and had been hell-bent on destroying the trees, and this had led to a complete lack of trust between townspeople and the council.

Lucy Maxwell-Scott said the trees were symbolic of the state of local democracy where councillors did not appear to be listening to local people. She said: "People in the community want to be allowed to have their say and should be properly consulted in the future."

Mr Duck told the meeting Wiltshire County Council had consulted on the plans for the Market Place, but in an ineffective way. It had chosen to ignore the outcome of a public meeting in the Bear Hotel in 1999, where people objected to the loss of car parking spaces, the moving of the taxi rank and, overwhelmingly, the loss of the trees. A petition with 2,400 signatures had been presented to Kennet District Council following that meeting. Another petition after the trees had been felled had more than 4,000 signatures.

County councillor Mrs Pat Rugg, chairman of the Devizes Town Centre Joint Member Working Party which made the decision to carry out changes to the Market Place said the decisions were only made after long consideration. "We have to rely on the recommendations made in the reports prepared by its officers. The results of the consultation said please leave it alone. People asked for more road safety and more buses but not to lose parking spaces and trees."

Protester Dereka Dodson of Station Road, called for Devizes to have postcards of the remaining tree and lapel badges. She said: "It is a very, very special tree. Let's use it."

Further action to be taken by Devizes Guardians will depend on the outcome of the questionnaire.