NOBODY could argue with the need to remove dead or dying trees from a railway embankment to stop them falling on to the line.

Several train crashes in recent years have highlighted the need to make passenger safety an absolute priority.

Those responsible for ensuring that any risks to travellers are kept to an absolute minimum have had their actions scrutinised closely by inquiries which have highlighted problems.

But you don't have to have extensive knowledge of landscape gardening to realise that what Network Rail has done to the railway embankment at Wilpshire was bound to upset residents.

What were wooded slopes now look as if they have been cleared of every bit of plant life. Flame throwers or chemical defoliants like those used in the Vietnam war would have achieved a similar result.

There might well be cost benefits in such a sledgehammer approach but there are plenty of examples of railways that manage to combine safety with an attractive landscape.

Surely it makes a difference too that the Blackburn to Clitheroe route is a purely local line and not an express route.

Squads of men descending at night with chainsaws was bound to cause upset. Network Rail need to improve their public relations and tactics - unless they are truly trying to remove the possibility of even a single leaf blowing on to the railway line.