FOLLOWING your article hailing a “win for democracy “ after plans to manage the pines at Marlhill Copse have once again been halted.

It is a great shame and a disservice to the residents living beneath the pines, and the community benefitting from using the copse, to not give the reasons for the airport being given approval to manage the trees.

These three huge trees have been allowed to reach 29 metres and more in height and have not been managed for many, many years.

They are very close to and overhang residents gardens and properties and the path through the copse and have been recently assessed as posing a risk of causing catastrophic damage to life and property.

This can and has been known to happen to this species and age of tree with no outward signs.

As you can imagine as residents living beneath one of the pines we are living in daily fear of limb or whole tree failure particularly in windy and stormy weather.

There is no doubt if the tree fell on our bungalow it would be completely demolished.

The reports and information which very clearly state the danger the trees pose can be read on the Protect Marlhill copse website set up by the person campaigning to save the trees.

This is interesting as he appears to not acknowledge or the danger or have any regard for how worrying this must be for the people directly affected to where the trees are.

The reports make for worrying reading but confirm why the work must be allowed to continue to protect residents and the public.

We do not feel that the risk of injury or to life and damage to property outweighs or is a fair trade for the amenity value of trees.

The airport have said they will replace the trees on a three-to-one basis with Southampton City Council and community involvement and are already making a massive improvement to the copse with their management work.

We cannot comprehend how the safety of people , their homes and the community can be placed at higher value than trees, which due their age are known to be past their useful life expectancy and at risk of failure.

We hope you will share this letter with your readers as we feel there needs to be a fair and honest account of why the decision was made to allow the trees to be made safe for everyone.

Mike and Marie Moody

St Helena Gardens, Southampton