Perth and Kinross Council to begin £2.2 million project to tackle ash dieback disease
While some funding is already in place, further budget decisions will need to be agreed to complete the full five-year programme
Perth and Kinross councillors have unanimously agreed to begin a £2.2 million project to tackle ash dieback.
Perhaps surprisingly the council responsible for Big Tree Country does not have its own tree surgeons and proposes to spend £1.9m on contractors removing at-risk trees.
While a budget of £125,000 has been allocated from the council's revenue budget for 2025/26, further budget decisions will need to be approved to complete the five-year programme.
Ash is the third most common broadleaf tree in the UK and a paper - put before councillors this week - reported current estimates are that "up to 90% of ash trees will die from the disease".
On Wednesday, April 30 PKC's Climate Change and Sustainability Committee approved a strategy which will prioritise the highest risk trees first.
The committee's convener SNP councillor Richard Watters described it as being an "efficient and effective method of pro-actively dealing with the problem".
Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) has a legal responsibility to take action to prevent or minimise the risk of personal injury or property damage from trees on council-owned land.
The local authority currently manages around 30,000 trees on its land - 1900 of which are ash. It is also estimated around 7,500 roadside trees may be affected. It was agreed PKC will work with landowners to take appropriate action, where required, to maintain road safety.
Ash dieback is an airborne fungal disease, which - as it progresses - causes the wood to become brittle resulting in branches falling from the tree. In the most severe cases, the trees will die.
On Wednesday, councillors were asked to approve a strategy which would see the council employ two surveyors for a year (£110,000) and an assistant trees and woodlands officer for three years (£150,000), as well as forking out £4000 on vehicle hire for a year for survey work and £5000 on GIS Survey software and equipment. The biggest outlay would be £1.9 million on contractors to remove priority dangerous trees on council land.
As well as tree removal, a £41,000 replanting programme is planned. Where possible, the trees removed will be replaced with alder, sycamore, field maple and Norway maple trees at a ratio of around 3:1.
Independent councillor Dave Cuthbert asked if there was value in the timber from trees which could offset the cost.
Calum Bachell from the Community Greenspace team explained: "As part of our tree contractor's contract, the costs are reduced by them being able to take the timber for commercial use. The issue with trees with significantly progressed ash dieback is the timber becomes so brittle it's not particularly useful for commercial purposes."
He added there were biodiversity benefits to leaving such timber on site and "where possible" the council will do that too.
Conservative councillor Angus Forbes questioned why PKC - responsible for an area famed for its trees - does not have its own tree surgeons when other neighbouring councils do.
The Carse of Gowrie councillor said: "One thing that has always confused me is that we don't actually employ our own tree surgeons. I know Dundee and Angus councils do, and with Dundee City Council you can rock up and buy timber to use as fuel in your house. Did we ever look at the opportunity to employ our own tree surgeons or perhaps use Angus Council's or Dundee City Council's tree surgeons to do this on our behalf?"
Convener Richard Watters said he would "hope" it was something the council could look at going forward.
Community Greenspace manager Andy Clegg said: "We're looking at a number of options for procurement at the moment. Traditionally all of our tree management, going back many years, has been through private contractors."
"Certainly if there's an option for collaborative working in some areas or across a whole area with other councils, we'll certainly look at that."
Independent councillor Dave Cuthbert suggested approaching Tayside Contracts - the collaborative and commercial trading arm of Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross councils.
The Kinross-shire ward councillor - who represents PKC on the Tayside Contracts Joint Committee - said: "Obviously Angus and Dundee will have the same problem at some point. It would seem sensible to look to share that service with Tayside Contracts."
Earlier this year the council's depute chief executive Clare Mailer said PKC was exploring "where there are opportunities for us to work more collaboratively across the Tayside Contracts model" after questions were raised over whether all three councils were using Tayside Contracts services as much as they should.
Mr Clegg told councillors on Wednesday: "We've actually just had very recent contact with Tayside Contracts offering a number of services across the council area so we're in detailed discussions with them. And certainly that would be part of the procurement option, along with a number of other services we're considering too."
Moving the ash dieback strategy for approval, the committee's convener SNP Kinross-shire councillor Richard Watters said: "This ash dieback strategy proposes an efficient and effective method of pro-actively dealing with the problem across Perth and Kinross in a prioritised and time-scaled way.
"Significant additional funding will be needed to fully deliver the strategy and will be the subject of subsequent budget decisions outwith this committee. In the meantime, I'm pleased to say funding was set aside in this year's budget for this year and next year to allow a start to be made on surveying and recording the trees and developing a tender package for dealing with the highest risk trees first."
Following the meeting a PKC spokesperson said: "A budget of £125,000 has been allocated from the council's revenue budget for 2025/26 and works will commence to identify and effectively deal with diseased trees on council managed land, and those affecting the adopted road network, in a prioritised way over a five-year period.
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