Action on Ash Dieback – The ash dieback plague is spreading across the UK

Ash dieback is spreading across the country
and is killing thousands of trees in Eastbourne.

It is estimated that around 95% of ash trees in the UK will die.

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Butts Brow Car Park

Areas within Butts Brow Car Park are being used for the storage of timber. Space will be required for six weeks from Monday 14 June, 2021. Our contractors will be collecting timber from the downland between Butts Brow and East Dean Road that was cut during the winter months and moving it to the car park.

By carrying out this work while we have drier ground conditions, damage to the woodland tracks used by the vehicles and machinery will be minimised.

Wellcome Allotment / Upper Dukes Drive

A small number of diseased trees that are adjacent to the Wellcome Allotment have been identified as seriously weakened due to Ash Dieback.

The trees present a potential risk to people and property in the area and will be removed as soon as possible.

Ash dieback is the most devastating tree disease since dutch elm disease killed 60 million elm trees in the UK during two epidemics in the 1920s and 1970s.

What is ash dieback?

Ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) is the most devastating tree disease since dutch elm disease killed 60 million elm trees in the UK during two epidemics in the 1920s and 1970s.

The disease is changing the profile of the landscape across the UK and will undoubtedly change how we view a span of the downland in Eastbourne.

The disease is spread by an airborne fungus. It attacks the vascular system of trees, killing young trees very quickly and more mature specimens over a longer period.

This video shows very clearly how so much of the tree canopy in woodland between Butts Brow in Willingdon to Meads has turned a pallid grey colour, a sure sign of ash dieback.

The impact of ash dieback

The airborne fungus has reached and spread rapidly throughout Eastbourne, leaving thousands of trees dead or dying. Currently there is no preventative treatment available. A diseased tree becomes weakened, with branches or the tree itself at risk of falling onto footpaths, roads and property.

The council is working with the Forestry Commission to remove the trees in Eastbourne that are infected with ash dieback.

Tackling the disease

Councils up and down the UK are working with the Forestry Commission to remove trees affected by ash dieback. In Eastbourne, the Forestry Commission has identified the trees that are dead or dying and must be removed.

The main area of woodland affected runs between Butts Brow in Willingdon to Meads (click to enlarge map).

Accordingly, we have developed a long-term plan in liaison with the Forestry Commission that will see felling begin in early December 2019. The whole project will take up to five years to complete.

Once cut, the diseased timber will be taken to a biomass facility. The council will receive payments from the energy generator for the timber that will broadly offset the cost of the overall project.

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