Local green spaces, whether parks or informal areas of trees and grass, are a vital community resource. They help to fight climate change, they improve biodiversity, and they improve our physical and mental health.

Bolton Council has recently been selling off many of its green spaces, something of which local residents are unaware until it is too late. Recent examples include the land on Medway Drive (pictured) and Medway Close in Horwich, where attractive mature trees that were an important feature of the local landscape have been cut down or damaged. Now even the small "pocket park" at the corner of Stephenson Street in Horwich has been put up for sale, and the future of its several mature trees is in doubt.

It's time the Council woke up to the fact that local green spaces, of all shapes and sizes, are essential to residents' well-being. Please immediately stop any further disposals of our communities' green spaces. The Council needs to act in all our interests and take proper care of these essential resources.