A KNUTSFORD man is hoping that a newly published book will provide a roots and branches change in how people look at trees in the future.

David Lloyd Jones, who knows more about preserving and enhancing trees than most people could shake a stick at, is passionate about how important they are to our way of life.

He said: "The rationale for publishing this book is simply that if people begin to understand how trees have evolved as they grow, they will become aware of just how wonderfully efficient, elegantly simple and beautifully designed trees are.

Mr Lloyd Jones love of trees, was shared by the late poet William Blake who said: "The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself."

Part of Mr Lloyd Jones book inspiration includes a 50 year old sycamore, which has stood outside of Knutsford Library, and forms part of a life study retrospective in the new book.

Mr Lloyd-Jones who has spent more than 30 years training people to become experts on how to prune trees, where necessary, is critical to some extent of the recent decision to chop down an an 800 year old oak by East Cheshire Council at High Legh.

He explained:"If a tree has stood for 800 years, and assuming that it still has vitality, then my first instinct would have been to reduce the magnitude of forces acting through the structure by simulating wind pruning."

"Tree officers, however, do a difficult tightrope walk through these conflicting issues and those issues are all the more difficult because we are talking about emotive issues like visual amenity, air quality and environmental concerns so as currently resourced, I think tree protection dealing with all these conflicts, is as advanced here as anywhere in the world."

He is also acutely aware of the challenge facing local authorities over the next decade as the population increase and the need for more homes can often mean cutting down old trees.

"In my opinion, driven by the 'where there is a claim there is blame' insurance culture, the tests applied to such large old trees are such that they can rarely satisfy the risk averse tree owner or more likely, their rabidly risk averse insurers."

He adds: "My book introduces one way that we perceive trees in a subliminal and almost instantaneous way, which uses an underused and almost completely unappreciated way that our eyes, brain and imagination combine to provide unusual insights into the natural forms that we perceive."

The book is entitled Tree Morphognesis - Simulated Wind Pruning for Trees - ISBN number is 978-099301 140-0-5.

As a special offer readers can download the book to their Kindle this Friday or Saturday for free by clicking here