Sir,
I cannot understand why Gary Witcombe has launched yet another attack on the catalpa tree in St James Square (Beacon edition Wednesday 4th August).
No-one (least of all Monmouth Town Council) has ever claimed that the tree was over 800 years old older than Monnow Bridge although the tree may well be one of the largest catalpas in Britain.
When Monmouthshire County Council decided that the catalpa tree should be felled, Gary wrote to the Beacon expressing strong support for such action.
However, the people of Monmouth raised a considerable sum of money to employ two leading arboriculturists to examine the health of the tree and to carry out a risk assessment.
This saved a much-loved feature of Monmouth, but failed to satisfy Gary, who must be one of the few Monmothians wishing to see the tree destroyed.
Stephen Clarke
(Monmouth)