SIR
I read with interest the letter from Colin Rodgers about tree planting on the Village Green where the Wye and the Monnow meet.
Mr Rodgers wondered whether the "shadowy" plan to plant an orchard was legal.
If Mr Rodgers had visited the area he is so keen to protect he would have known that there is no plan to plant an orchard.
The orchard was planted a year ago.
With only tacit support from the Town and County Council, the work was funded by donation and carried out by volunteers from the community.
For Mr Rodgers to call this "shadowy" and imply a conspiracy is incomprehensible because the voluntary group has publicised the orchard widely.
It has featured in The Beacon and been shown on BBC Wales, as well as being a Waitrose Community Project.
The orchard is as legal as the tennis courts, bowling green, allotments or cricket pitch, not to mention Waitrose car park, all of which occupy parts of the Village Green.
It is ironic that the real crime on the Village Green is the presence of the A40 which cuts it in half.
Ironic because Mr Rodgers worked on its construction, so benefiting financially from the most destructive act to have blighted any Village Green on the Wye.
I am astonished that he should criticise local people who care enough to give their time and money without so much as bothering to visit the area he pretends to want to protect.
A V Smith
(Monmouth)