Dear Sir,

The article in The Royal Gazette last week regarding the state of the Botanical Gardens (Visitors complain about Botanical Gardens, June 25) perhaps also typifies the state of our weed-ridden roads, which surely must be a blight on our landscape for visitors.

Belco recently carried out a tree removal and pruning exercise to clear the electric lines. This makes sense, however, when one looks at the areas cleaned all one sees is a layer of foliage strewn throughout the said areas.

This has never been removed and in the height of a drought period is an accident waiting to happen if a match is tossed into the debris.

I recently took a drive to Royal Naval Dockyard, our premier port for cruise ships, and was disappointed in the state of the grounds — even more so when I drove around the back roads near Parsons Bay and Lagoon Park. Are we losing interest in our appearance and how it impacts on our visitors and locals alike?

The discussion on cost is invariably brought up as a reason for such shortfalls.

If we invested in more intense training schemes and encouraged people to pursue a career in the horticultural/environmental field we would show off our assets in a far better way than letting them deteriorate. The landscape is our biggest intangible asset, let us not waste its potential.

Environmentally yours,

Malcolm D Griffiths