We have all been here before

Back in 2012 we had a look at Morpeth's fantasies about itself.

Plus ca change..

Hannah Slater's original triptych painting has been replaced with another picture, by Sarah Farooqi this time, of cental Morpeth. Or Morpeth as it might appear were Morpeth a town in the Netherlands, or a town in a benign parallel universe.

Wow! Traffic absent and tamed. Two tiny cars nosing gingerly along flanked by running, unaccompanied children, kids with balloons, mums with pushchairs, pets. Visionary shared space scenario, person-centred street-scene. Safety. Peace. Clean air! War is over if you want it. Let the bells ring..

So has Morpeth's Bridge Street changed at all over the last seven years? Has it buggery: still four lanes for cars; two for moving machinery, two for stationary machinery.

We have all been here before.

Ash to ashes..

In a departure from my usual transport themed excursions we've a guest contributor denied column space on the letters page of the Morpeth Herald. We badly need an e-zine alternative to the Herald as a platform for progressive thinking in the town. Morpeth Matters, the facebook page moderated by the right wing local politicians who fronted the wretched Lights Out! campaign, does not serve.

Sent: Sunday, 3 November 2019, 18:14:33 GMT

Subject: Letters

Dear Editor,

Last week Morpeth lost an old, much loved and highly valued friend: the beautiful and historic ash tree, which had stood in Dawson Place for well over fifty years, was cut down and removed.

To describe this as an act of both civic and environmental vandalism would not be an exaggeration: the tree had graced the square for generations, and was greatly loved by the local residents and also enjoyed on a daily basis by the many schoolchildren who passed it by on the way to Middle and High schools. It was a valuable wildlife habitat, and in its lifetime must have also removed significant amounts of C02. 

And this was a healthy tree: despite being an ash, it bore no signs of ash dieback, nationally an increasing worry, and was as a result even more valuable. And it was removed under instruction of Karbon Homes without any advance warning or notification, without any discussion or consultation with Dawson Place residents. 

To describe this as an outrage is not an exaggeration: we cannot take the moral high ground and lecture others elsewhere in the world, for example those in Brazil, about the cutting down of trees when we continue to do so ourselves here. 

I called the tree a friend: that is certainly how it has felt to those of who have lived with its generous company for decades. Its loss feels like a bereavement, but it is not one that can be allowed to pass without holding to account those who were responsible. Karbon Homes have serious questions to answer for their act of wilful environmental and cultural vandalism.

Yours, 

P__ S__  

PS I have enclosed before and after photos of the tree taken only this Summer and what was left of it on Friday morning.