I appreciate emotions are running high on this matter, but this simply does not add up.
It is widely accepted that a single mature willow takes up about 100 gallons of water a
day.
It is also widely accepted that buffer planting away from rivers on low lying farmland will ameliorate flood damage drastically, through drainage by trees but also they break up the flow of the flood, cause deposition of silt, and drastically reduce soil erosion through the presence of binding root systems.
The removal of riparian trees cannot possibly reduce flooding risk on that basis and consideration should be given to planting up with trees the entire field in question if flooding risk is the issue.
Barry Brownson
Ross-on-Wye
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