New woodland planned to replace diseased larches

Hundreds of larch trees must be felled, Lancashire County Council said

Incurably diseased trees will need to be chopped down as soon as possible and replaced with woodland that is "more resilient to climate change", a council has said.

Lancashire County Council (LCC) said it would likely be ordered by the Forestry Commission later this month to fell hundreds of larch trees which are infected with Phytophthora ramorum, a type of water mould.

Subject to a successful funding application, the council said it would plant native species including birch, holly, mountain ash and oak near Whitworth and Bacup.

Councillor Shaun Turner said while it was "sad to lose so many trees", the recovery plan would be be "better for the environment [and a] more appropriate habitat for wildlife".

Work is planned to remove larch trees covering up to 37 acres (15 acres) from sites at Facit and Shawforth.

LCC said some of the clearance costs would be recovered from selling timber produced by felling the trees.

It said the replanting scheme would provide longer-term benefits because the mixed native broadleaf species which will replace the felled trees will provide a better habitat for wildlife and be more suited to the landscape of the area.

Councillor Turner also said the county council "must play its part in preventing this damaging disease from spreading to other parts of the country".

"It is important to remove as many trees as we can before new spores begin to spread again next summer, so we want to start the work as soon as possible," he said.