No-one wants to see trees cut down.

Not only do they add beauty to any street, they play an important role in absorbing pollution.

But when they become dangerous, it is vital they are felled or trimmed promptly. Much as we sympathise with the residents in Osney, Oxford, who fought to save willows lining the Thames near their homes, their case was weak. An examination by city council experts had shown that many of the trees were diseased and dangerous. The council would have been negligent if it had ignored advice and allowed the trees to remain.

Fresh in our minds is the tragedy in Gloucester Street, Oxford, in 2002 when a diseased horse chestnut crashed on to a parked car during a storm, killing 22-year-old Angela Regoczy.

We cannot afford to take chances and force any other family to suffer such a tragic loss.

It is important, however, that the city and county councils get together and discuss replacements. We want trees back on the river bank at Osney as quickly as possible.