Ministers will outline plans to combat a deadly disease which threatens to wipe out swathes of Britain’s ash trees after a second emergency meeting on Friday.
Chalara ash dieback has so far been confirmed at 115 sites across Britain, including more than 60 woodlands, the Department of Environment (Defra) said.
Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, who held a summit earlier this week to find ways of combating the devastating disease, will chair a second meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee later.
Experts and nature groups at the summit suggested action should be focussed on newly planted trees — rather than chopping down mature trees — and called for more awareness raising about the problem.
The fungus has already killed off 90 percent of ash trees in parts of Denmark and is spreading across central Europe.
The government has banned ash tree imports from abroad and destroyed 100,000 trees in response to the growing threat in Britain.
Hundreds of government officials were checking sites across the country for signs of the tree disease this week, Defra said, with plant health experts surveying a thousand sites containing saplings from nurseries where chalara has been found.
Chalara ash dieback, which is caused by a fungus called Chalara fraxinea, causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees, and can cause trees to die.
The disease was first detected in Britain in March in nurseries and recently planted sites, before being discovered in woodlands and forests.
Experts believe the fungus in mature woodlands has swept in from northern France and warn that little can be done to stop the wind-borne disease from spreading.
Ash disease action plan to be unveiled
