LAST Saturday Poole council parks department and a team arrived at the top end of Coy Pond Gardens near the viaduct and cut down several willow trees which had grown on the banks of the Bourne stream and which were a haven for hundreds of small birds, even in the winter.

Not only have the trees been cut down but a circle of nails has been hammered into each tree stump to make sure that they don’t regrow.

The banks of the stream at that particular point have been laid out to allow for flash flooding when the water comes down under the railway and, of course, those trees would have sucked up much of the excess water and stabilised the banks from falling into the stream.

It seems incredible that, whenever we ask the council to come and tackle the weeds or generally tidy up the dead foliage, we are told that there are no funds available.

We, the Friends of Coy Pond, try very hard to keep these gardens looking beautiful and at the weekend we had a litter pick to clean up the rubbish which uncaring individuals throw down.

I have to apply for planning permission when I want to take as much as a few branches off any of the trees in my garden so obviously there is one rule for one and another rule for the powers that be.

I and all the people who regularly walk in the gardens are heartbroken and we have no redress.

GILLIAN BROOKES, Erpingham Road, Poole