DURING the past couple of months, I have written many stories about the Edgar Street trees and have listened to both sides of the argument.

For anyone who doesn't know, the Highways Agency is planning on cutting down at least 10 of the 14 lime trees to make way for an additional lane to help improve traffic flow in Hereford.

I, like many other motorists in the city, get very frustrated when I am stuck in traffic on Edgar Street heading south.

Luckily, I do not have to use it on a daily basis and I sympathise with anyone who does.

Therefore, I do think that something needs to be done to improve traffic flow in this part of the city, because, in my opinion, it will only get worse when the new retail development opens next year.

But, do the trees have to be cut down as a consequence?

I must admit, I am not really an environmentalist, but I do like greenery and think that the trees add some colour to a road that can be heavily polluted by a lot of vehicles.

They are quite nice to look at when you are stuck in a car doing five miles-an-hour at rush-hour, or even less in some cases.

That is why I hope that they can still be saved and I applaud the group of people who are trying to do keep them.

I met them yesterday when they held a tea party by the trees in another attempt to highlight their case.

They spoke very well about the need to keep the trees, but added that they are not against helping improve the traffic flow.

They have put forward alternative options to Herefordshire Council, one of which is to turn off the traffic lights on the roundabout.

That may seem drastic to some people, but I do agree that the lights are the problem.

Many people think that the lights on the Belmont Road roundabout work best when they are not operating because traffic flows more freely.

The majority of motorists are considerate drivers and just use it as a normal give-way roundabout in this instance.

Of course, I understand why there are traffic lights on both the Belmont Road and Edgar Street roundabouts, but I do think that something needs to be done to improve them.

The Highways Agency has said that it does intend to make the sequencing of the lights on Edgar Street better as part of its "pinch-point" programme, but this is in addition to adding another lane.

The latter means that at least 10 trees will have to go.

Is that absolutely necessary?

In my opinion no.

Would a vast improvement on the lights do the trick instead?

Probably yes.

What do you think?

Are you for or against the cutting down of the trees?

Vote on the poll below.