Published: 13 July, 2012

• I LIVE in leafy Barnsbury, where the streets were planted with avenues of trees in the early 1970s. The council agreed to plant them if residents paid for the trees. 

The driving force behind the planting was a local resident, Gaynor Reynolds, who held coffee mornings in her kitchen to raise the money. As indeed she did, as the lines of trees now bear witness.

Don’t run away with the idea that Barnsbury is a millionaires’ enclave. Not so, there is a mix of social housing, leaseholds and freeholds here.

Everyone contributed, many of whom are no longer with us or have moved away. But the lines of trees remain.

Neither vandals nor disease nor that hurricane halted their growth to maturity.

Their diverse beauty over the seasons brings pleasure and the carbon monoxide from the traffic is absorbed by their greenery.

The benefits that trees bring to our polluted streets and the upgrading of the environment is invaluable.

Camden Council apparently has trees in stock but no money to plant them. Trees should have been considered by Camden as an essential not a luxury in their planning.

Or perhaps they will follow Islington and hold coffee mornings?

DM DALY
Barnsbury Square, N1