THE recent coverage in your pages about green waste bins has focused on costs – with little said about value.

After the dreary days of back-to-backs and urban slums, there was an emergence of ‘garden cities’ to ensure all residents could relax and enjoy the beauty of their private gardens and the fruits thereof.

They were places where children could play in safety, and we have become happy to share them with wildlife.

This process has been reversed as the rise of the motor car seems to necessitate many a front garden being transformed into a paved off-street parking lot, whilst the rear gardens are covered by extensions or decking.

In building flats developers have mostly eliminated recreation areas, and the planted token trees are neglected when the flats are sold.

The London Wildlife Trust has recently reported that Greater London is presently losing the equivalent of two-and-a-half Hyde Parks every year because of hard-surfacing former garden areas.

It is more than just aesthetics. Increasing impervious surfaces are causing more water run-off with clogged drains and the potential to flood during storms.

Gardening seems now to be practised mainly by the older generation. It is healthy exercise prolonging their lives, and also helps socialising with others over the garden fences. The results enhance their neighbourhoods, and thus the town as a whole. If done organically, gardens help our threatened wildlife.

Maintained gardens are the jewels of suburbia.

Many gardeners do not drive and cannot dispose of their waste.

The provision of green bins thus allows them to engage in activities which benefit us all. Any disincentive by their withdrawal will reduce gardens into becoming an endangered aspect of all our lives.

JOHN CRESSWELL, Southlands Avenue, Bournemouth