Woods are razed in diseased tree clearout
WORK has started on massive tree clearance works in Runcorn and Widnes intended to quell a serious national outbreak of ash dieback disease.
Reports of trees being chopped down have been reported in the area including opposite Martin Close on Palacefields Avenue in Runcorn, Cheshire, where a swathe of trees was reduced to a wide patch of stumps.
Halton Borough Council has confirmed the works were due to ash dieback and not the redevelopment of the Town Park.
A spokesman for the local authority said the area was being mulched with a view to replant the area.
Halton Council announced in January a major outbreak of ash dieback meant 120,000 of the borough’s one million trees could be lost.
It said the national outbreak was in its infancy but professionals had estimated around 80% of the country’s ash trees will succumb to the disease.
Consent would have to be obtained from the Forestry Commission before trees could be felled, and it was anticipated that other tree species would also have to be removed.
The council said ash accounts for about 12% of the nation’s trees including in Halton.
The Town Park was one of the first areas to be picked for clearance works.
Cllr Ron Hignett (physical environment) said in January that as many diseaseresistant ash trees as possible would be retained.
He warned the outbreak was going to have a “devastating impact on the landscape and the biodiversity of Halton’s woodlands” and “a major loss of connectivity between ecological habitats”.
The council was not able to provide a map or timetable of works following a request for this article.