HAVING read the report on Oakmead College cutting down the trees within their grounds, I have two questions.

Was a Tree Preservation Order in place bfore the trees were cut down?

If the answer is ‘no’ then the college have done nothing wrong.

Why has Cllr Ron Whittaker accused the school of “a barbaric act of vandalism” since it appears that the work was undertaken by skilled, equipped , professional tree fellers?

“Barbaric acts of vandalism”, Cllr Whittaker and Cllr Kelsey, are carried out by ‘vandals’ – unskilled, non-thinking, ill-equipped, underclass feral idiots who can find nothing sensible to do, absolutely not what has happened at Oakmead College – is it?

There are lots of “barbaric acts of vandalism” taking place within the community which councillors do absolutely nothing about.

I am not in possession of the facts of the tree felling at the college, having only read the news item in the Echo.

However if there was no TPO on those prior to the felling and if advice and caveats were not forthcoming from Bournemouth council, then, please don’t try to shoot the messenger.

Councillors and most public servants appear to forget that they are in office ‘to serve the public’, to get things right, to know what they are doing and to ensure that the interests of the wider public are uppermost in their dealings and also to remember that when things go wrong they must share the blame if they have not been on top of their jobs.

Perhaps the college may have made a genuine mistake.

PATRICIA SULLIVAN Pine Manor Road, Ashley Heath