SIR,

1 don't know what planet your reader Cerys Atkins came from.

She is obviously not familiar with an environment surrounded by beautiful countryside like Monmouth with its richness of trees and bushes full of wild life, including many species of birds. There is an abundance of berries and insects for food, all within a short distance of Monnow Meadows estate, and just a stone's throw away from where she lives.

My congratulations to Monmouthshire County Council for looking after our hedgerows within and around the new Monnow Meadows housing estate where I live.

The bushes and shrubs, which Mrs Atkins refers to had sadly become completely overgrown and looked untidy alongside the paths where people enjoy walking or riding their bicycles.

It made it feel vulnerable during the dark winter evenings especially when walking alone. The men have done a magnificent job in cutting down the hedge growth carefully and neatly, all of which had been neglected for a considerable number of years making it a hard task to undertake.

As a long standing member of the RSPB it's a complete nonsense to suggest that the bird habitat will be destroyed. The shrubs and hedges will all grow thicker in the spring and birds will continue to nest just as they do in the surrounding countryside where the farmers also cut their perimeter hedges during this time of the year.

Could it be that your reader doesn't approve of the cutting back of the overgrown greenery solely because she wishes her property to be hidden from the view of her neighbours?

If so, I ask myself why she moved onto a large modern housing estate where houses are built in a closer proximity to their neighbours than in days gone by. I suggest she chose the wrong place to live. Maybe isolated in the middle of a forest may have suited her better!

I am surprised that she has been given so much publicity over what I consider along with my neighbours, to be a wrong and ridiculous biased complaint concerning the nature and its environment within our estate.

The neighbours I have spoken to, who along with myself live in the same area as Mrs Atkins, have all said how delighted they are with the care the Council have taken in helping to make our surrounding area a pleasant place to live in.

I am certain that the result of their hard work will be thicker and tidier hedgerows around our estate, resulting in an improved habitat for future nesting birds and any other wildlife.

Thank you to the Landscape Manager and his team who are doing an excellent job and deserve praise and not the unreasonable criticism given by Cerys Atkins. Keep up the good work Monmouth County Council.

(Name and address supplied)