‘The lush garden space’ at Dixon Clark Court

• THE council continues its attack on those trying to save mature trees on Dixon Clark Court, with leader Richard Watts now accusing campaigners of being nimbys… using “a cover of environmentalism”, (Town hall leader slams ‘nimby’ tree activists, October 30).

Maybe Cllr Watts is unaware that his own administration’s plan for the DCC estate involves not only uprooting seven, 53-year-old trees but literally building on the residents’ own “back yard”.

The planning application for the site does, after all, fail to include a single photograph of the lush space seen in these pictures taken by local architect James Dunnett, before the council locked the entrance gate in March this year.

With the majority of the proposed new-build homes planned to be built on the garden, this was surely a major oversight.

Dixon Clark Court garden: ‘We used to play and explore together. We’re so sad’

A mother writes: “The benches were given to a resident… It was such a special space for us. For my little dude and me, that garden being gone is a huge loss.

“I used to read while he looked at bugs then we used to play and explore together. We’re so sad.”

Cllr Watts is correct about one thing: the “growing opposition” to the proposed DCC development; but not, as he alleges, to the building of council homes. This old trope, repeated by other elected members on Twitter, is wearing thin.

The potential loss of the “little forest” of mature trees is something about which many Islington residents and passers-by are only now becoming aware.

The council seems unable to acknowledge that felling the trees would not only be to the detriment of the residents but also a loss to the area.

This is Highbury Corner, a central Islington location linking all areas or the borough. Just a week ago, a woman cycling past expressed her amazement that the trees could possibly be in the last-chance saloon.

The proposed development of the existing DCC estate will not only deprive residents of their beautiful garden but also the mature trees that currently protect them from the noisy, toxic Highbury Corner.

MEG HOWARTH
Ellington Street, N7