Ministers ‘dallied’ over tree disaster | The Sunday Times


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Ministers ‘dallied’ over tree disaster

Landowners claim they were not warned of a fungal threat that could wipe out millions of ash trees

Jack Grimston Published: 28 October 2012

There are an estimated 80m ash trees in Britain (Tim Graham)

THE government is facing criticism this weekend over why it took so long to act against an ash tree fungus that is threatening Britain’s woodlands with disaster.

Chalara fraxinea, which has spread rapidly across Europe since the early 1990s, was identified at a nursery in Buckinghamshire in February, but a ban on importing and moving ash trees will be put in place only tomorrow.

Landowners have criticised ministers for failing to tell them about the infection. As a result they did not take action to contain the disease before it had spread.

The fungus kills trees by destroying their leaves, a process called ash dieback. In Denmark it has wiped out more than 80% of the ash trees. Saplings tend to die almost immediately after they are infected, while older trees can survive a few years.

This weekend a survey by the Forestry Commission had found more than 20 “highly suspicious”

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