Sheffield council not to challenge felling of diseased trees

Phytophthora ramorum, a microscopic fungal-like organism, has infected larch trees at Wyming Brook Nature Reserve in Sheffield

A council has said it will not legally challenge the felling of more than 1,000 diseased trees at a nature reserve.

Campaigners said Sheffield's Wyming Brook Nature Reserve could look like a "post-apocalyptic landscape" if the larch trees were chopped down.

Sheffield City Council said it had to comply with a removal order from the government-run Forestry Commission.

The trees have contracted a non-native fungus-like disease.

Work started on chopping them down in September and is expected to be completed by Christmas, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.  

It came after the Forestry Commission served a Statutory Plant Health Notice (SPHN) to Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust forcing it remove the trees which have been infected by Phytophthora ramorum, for which there is no cure.

The Commission's policy is to destroy trees in the infected area - including healthy trees - as quickly as possible to prevent spreading. 

A map shows the area of trees affected by the disease

Councillor Richard Williams, chair of the communities, parks and leisure committee, said: "We own this land and although we lease it to Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, the council is under a legal duty to comply with this notice.

"'We continue to work with the Forestry Commission and other organisations, and we are discussing the approach to pest and disease management with them, including Phytophthora ramorum."

More than 1,800 people have signed a petition urging the council to challenge the notice and for the work to be suspended.

A spokesperson for Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust said it would have an "unavoidable dramatic effect" on the landscape but there was nothing it could do to save the trees.

Roy Mosley, head of conservation and land management, said: "We also expect, in time, that trees will fill the spaces created through natural regeneration creating a diverse, resilient woodland."