Latest news with #ashdieback
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
More than 1,000 trees with ash dieback felled in Herefordshire
More than 1,000 diseased ash trees have been felled as Herefordshire Council works to tackle a fungal disease spreading through them, known as ash dieback, caused by the hymenoscyphus fraxineus fungus, arrived in the UK in 2012 and has led to many trees being cut council said ash was the third most common tree in Britain, while in Herefordshire, more than 6,500 hectares of woodland contained ash - with the species also found on roadsides and in public open said the first two phases of a scheme to remove diseased trees had been completed in a move to protect healthy trees, and work on phase three had begun. Trees being replaced Between December 2024 and April 2025, work was carried alongside several main Elissa Swinglehurst, cabinet member for environment, said teams were only felling trees that were clearly in serious decline, posed an imminent danger to people or property, or where timber with significant value was likely to be said the recovery of woodland was "important to maintain the county's tree canopy cover", and a tree-replacement scheme was council's tree and hedgerow management plan set out that every tree removed would be replaced with a minimum of five new, smaller trees, she said, adding: "We are committed to tree regeneration."In places where there was insufficient space, larger trees will be planted in public open space instead. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Bristol City Council allocates £2.8m for work on diseased trees
Up to 4,000 trees infected with a deadly disease that pose a risk to public safety will be felled or made safe after councillors allocated £2.8m for the City Council has agreed to spend the money on felling ash trees that are in the latter stages of ash dieback - a windblown fungus that makes trees brittle - focusing on those that could collapse near roads and of the money will be spent on replacement tree planting, which will eventually increase Bristol's tree canopy, the council three Labour members on the public health and communities committee refused to support the plans while the other three parties voted in favour. A report to the meeting said 10,000 trees owned by the council were in an advanced state of decline, with about a third of those identified as requiring urgent committee allocated £930,000 to chop the trees down and £1.9m for replacement tree planting, according to the Local Democracy Reporting report said the work would result in a "short term" reduction in the city's tree cover and estimated it would take 15 to 20 years to return to current levels. Public safety Labour councillor Tom Blenkinsop said: "I'm struggling to get my head around 15 to 20 years being a temporary situation."The council's head of parks and green spaces, Richard Fletcher, said the trees would be lost anyway as a result of ash dieback and not because of the decision to cut them Democrat committee chairman Stephen Williams said the decision was down to public safety. "We would be even more concerned if a branch fell on a bus, pedestrian or a cyclist."Williams said he would write to the government to ask for money to deal with the disease because it is a national problem.
