More than 500 diseased trees to be felled

The Woodland Trust predicts ash dieback will kill up to 80% of ash trees across the UK

Hundreds of ash trees are to be felled after being infected with a fatal disease.

Leeds City Council said it would need to spend £400,000 felling 539 trees to prevent them collapsing on to roads and posing a risk to motorists.

Work on the trees infected with ash dieback is expected to start in January, followed by a programme to plant five new trees for each chopped down.

A council spokesperson said: “We are not removing any trees until they are in terminal decline and will be proactively replanting healthy trees to replace those felled.”

They added: “Subject to a felling licence, these trees will be felled with continued monitoring of all remaining ash trees.”

More than 310 miles (500km) of roads are affected.

The trees to be felled have been identified as having "class 4" ash dieback with between 75 and 100% of the tree canopy dead.

According to the Woodland Trust, the fungal infection Chalara fraxinea dieback, or ash dieback, was introduced to Europe about 30 years ago and has "devastated" the European ash variety.

The conservation charity predicts the fungus will kill up to 80% of ash trees across the UK.

In Leeds 2,695 replacement trees, mainly native broadleaves, will be planted in locations as close as possible to the chopped-down ashes.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, felling work will be carried out by Tilhill Forestry.

A council spokesperson said: “We are proud of the work we do to care for the trees and woodland across our city.

“As part of this work, regular surveys are carried out to check on the health of our tree population and pinpoint any potential issues.”

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