WITH his inimitable if somewhat offbeat humour Robert McNeil (“Going out on a limb to defend our trees”, The Herald, February 5) occasions a smile on his reflections on steak pie and tree controversy recently ventilated in your Letters Pages.

For many, such incidences of dispute are dismissed as trivial but for these involved it is no laughing matter. It appears comment or dispute only surfaces when an individual raises the issue be it steak pie (trades description) or offending trees (planning regulations). Considering all 32 local authority councils are well endowed with planning and trading standards departments the onus of investigation is their remit.

Prompt proactive service by our local councils could defuse deteriorating relationships and be welcomed by all concerned.

Allan C Steele,

22 Forres Avenue, Giffnock.

I WAs pleased to read Robert McNeil's engaging round-up recent letters. I am glad that one of my pet topics has been given an airing in the past few. Lest my opening letter (February 3) gave the impression that I am some mad axeman let me say that I too have trees. They provide an excellent flexible windbreak against the salt-laden blasts from the open waters of the Clyde.

The main focus of the original assertion was the purpose of the Government tree planting scheme. This is primarily carbon capture. Without going into the minutiae of crop yields, suffice to say that many crops outperform conifers by factors of four or five. Even the humble turnip makes the efficiency of the spruce look somewhat "wooden".

Sadly "greenish" people plough their furrows with almost religious zeal. I would commend them to heed the words of Oliver Cromwell when addressing the Church of Scotland. He wrote: "I beseech you in the Bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken "

Dr G W Cross,

17 Dykesfield Place, Saltcoats.