Be eyes and ears in the battle against dieback
ASH DISEASE IS THREATENING THOUSANDS OF TREES IN COUNTY
DISEASES affecting the nation’s trees are a “serious risk” to Leicestershire and residents are being asked to be on the front line of the fight to save them.
The current threat to British trees was brought up at the county council’s Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny committee meeting recently.
James O’Brien, team manager for environment policy and strategy, said: “ash dieback has been recognised nationally as a serious risk to this country, so that’s why we’re taking action now.
“We are aware of the other diseases that are on the way. My colleagues in forestry are preparing to work on that, but thankfully the seriousness of those diseases are not on the scale of ash dieback.
“However, those diseases will be part of the future work that’s done on protecting an improving our treescape.”
Ash dieback disease is highly destructive and can cause branches to fall and trees to topple. There are an estimated 500,000 trees in the county.
The council has issued a warning and an appeal, urging residents to help them fight the outbreak of ash dieback by identifying infected ash trees.
Disease also presents a fresh challenge to the council’s current efforts to plant 700,000 trees in the county – or one for each resident.
Councillor Blake Pain, cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “It’s vital that everyone who has ash trees on their property takes action to ensure they are safe.
“The county council has stepped up its safety inspections of trees in response to the threat from ash dieback, which is no small task as there are thousands of ash trees next to roads and on other properties.
“Tree owners should have their trees regularly inspected by a professional so that, as the disease progresses, appropriate decisions in tree management can be made and accidents can be prevented.
“People should pay particular attention to Ash trees within areas where the failure of the whole tree or falling branches could place people or neighbouring property in danger.”