Editor

I would like to take issue with some of the points raised in your article ‘Controversy over metal tree sculpture reignites’ (Cambrian News, 26 November).

Firstly, if you walk down Borth High Street you will see evidence from the posters not of a community “divided” but of a community opposed to the metal tree.

Secondly, the artist himself refers to the ancient submerged forest of Borth beach. The forest underlies the beach from the RNLI station at the southern end to Ynyslas at the northern end, sometimes exposed, sometimes covered by sand. The excavations needed to install the “tree” will dig through and destroy part of this ancient forest.

Thirdly, we should be concerned for the ringed plovers, present in small numbers in this part of the beach. From the RSPB website: “All of the key estuaries for ringed plovers are protected under national and international legislation and RSPB teams work hard to ensure that coastal habitat is not lost or degraded.” I have seen the ringed plovers on Borth beach, close to the proposed site of the “tree”, and I understand that they nest amongst the stones there. Again, from the RSPB website, “Sadly, they were recently added to the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern.”

Fourthly, the artist quite rightly points out that he has been given planning permission. He does not mention that both Borth Community Council and Ceredigion County Council turned down his application. Their ruling was overridden, on appeal, by a distant, individual planning officer in South Wales.

Whilst I understand the artist’s reasons for locating the “tree” on the beach, what I cannot understand is how he can persist with his project knowing the destruction it will cause to the environment and the strength of local opposition to it.

Elizabeth Mullan Borth

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