I read with amusement and concern the hullabaloo stirred up by a number of correspondents about the fate of the trees in front of Castille. I am usually grateful to tree-huggers because through their relentless efforts they manage to slow down the indiscriminate eradication of vegetation.

But in this case, they are totally over the top. Those trees do not belong there and the resurfacing project as proposed, or slightly modified to incorporate a frame of low lying shrubs, will reinstate the magnificence of the auberge's façade. Those trees symbolise the cacophony of styles and design that our post-Independence town planning looks like. Focus and objectivity increase credibility and efficacy.