Very occasionally I'm so full of rage and dismay it makes me feel physically sick. That's my condition now, following the squalid demise of our Kingston poplars.

On the face of it, this is much ado about nothing. Why agonise over the felling of old trees when we've been promised a load of replacements in return?

I'll tell you why. It's because this saga has been mired from the start by Kingston Council's secrecy, lies, environmental vandalism and breathtaking disregard for public opinion.

Secrecy surrounded the initial agreement, made in 1996 between the council and Fair- clough Homes, to axe the poplars as part of the planning permission to redevelop the power station site.

The lies came last year, when the council declared the trees were not only PowerGen's property, but diseased, and near the end of their lifespan.

Untrue.

They were rooted in Canbury Gardens, so belonged to us.

Moreover, independent experts confirmed they were healthy, with years of good life in them yet.

Environmental vandalism is the only way to describe the council's attitude that Fairclough's "landscaping" with 120 replacement trees would more than compensate.

Have our elected representatives ever been to this part of Canbury Gardens?

Do they realise that its unique beauty depends not on fancy "landscaping", but on that broad sweep of green set against the rippling multi-hues of the Thames?

The poplars were a key feature, screening off the power station to give a feeling of rural seclusion.

The new trees will screen nothing.

Instead, our erstwhile haven will be permanently overlooked by staring domestic windows.

As for public opinion, was it arrogance, naivety or incompetence that led a party with the word democrat in its title to ignore the signed opinions of some 22,000 local residents, plus the verbal wishes of thousands more?

Councillors claim it would cost too much in surcharges to renege on their deal with Fairclough by reprieving the poplars.

But would it have cost much more than the bailiffs, police, security guards, tunnel specialists, helicopters, river launches, security vehicles, plant operatives, tree surgeons, workmen and special equipment used last week to over-ride public will?

Let no-one ever forget the council's perfidy in this affair.

On second thoughts, we can't.

We shall be reminded every time we enter Canbury Gardens and see its east side dominated by a development far uglier than the power station, and with no trees to veil its shortcomings.

The poplars wouldn't have been planted but for Kingston Power Station, so I mustn't let rage over their loss make me forget that this is the golden anniversary year of the station's opening by King George V and Queen Elizabeth.

Indeed, a reader has written to tell me that the poplar screen was planted to commemorate the Royal couple's wedding anniversary, though he can't remember which one.

Some people wonder why industry was ever allowed alongside Canbury Gardens.

The answer is that industry got there first, and without it Canbury Gardens might never have been created.

In 1892, Kingston Council decided to establish its own electricity plant, capable of supplying light to 5,000 homes and 36 street lamps.

Building plans were drawn up by James Edgecombe, appointed Kingston's first borough electrical engineer at an annual salary of £156.

The chosen site for this little pioneer power station was in Down Hall Road.

It adjoined the Native Guano works, where Kingston's raw sewage was baked and ground into garden fertiliser.

This works gave off stenches that engulfed north Kingston, but its establishment in 1888 led to the draining of the marshlands by Down Hall Meadow, and their conversion, after much effort by private individuals, into beautiful Canbury Gardens.

This new power station, later known as Kingston A, opened in 1893, and was improved and extended over the years.

But in 1938 it was so badly damaged by fire that plans were drawn up for a new Kingston B station.

The Second World War intervened, and it wasn't until 1948 that the new station materialised as the first to be opened after nationalisation of the electricity supply industry that year.

It was built on the site of the sewage works, which was transferred to Surbiton.

Meanwhile the old Kingston A complex was patched up, served the area throughout the Second World War and wasn't closed down until 1959.

Ironically, the original 1893 building still survives, albeit semi-derelict; but its handsome young successor was controversially demolished in 1994 to make way for Persimmon and Fairclough Homes.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.