Council starts removing about 200 diseased elms in Withdean Park

Work begins today (Monday 19 October) to remove around 200 elm trees in Withdean Park. The council’s arboriculture team is doing the work after inspections found a significant spread of elm disease. The job should take around three weeks. One mature ash tree is coming down too.

All the affected trees are in a small area of the park. The council says that area is in a prominent spot, so the work will affect the wider park. It is doing everything in one phase so the woodland, its wildlife and park users get less disruption and the site can recover quickly.

Under the council’s policy, the felling covers infected and declining trees plus the elms next to them, because the disease travels between trees through their joined-up roots. Some of the trees being felled may look healthy. Much of the other vegetation will stay. The council will keep managing the area to stop new shoots growing from infected roots, and will keep monitoring the site.

“It’s always sad when trees have to be felled, but the work planned for Withdean Park is essential to manage the ongoing problem of elm disease and to protect other healthy trees,” said Councillor Alan Robins, the council’s cabinet member for sports, recreation and libraries.

The council has told the Forestry Commission. Felling elms to manage the disease is exempt from needing a felling licence under the Forestry Act.

The council’s elm disease page warns of a bigger outbreak than usual and asks residents to act as an extra pair of eyes. Early signs are leaves wilting and browning or yellowing anywhere on the tree, or an elm thinning out in early summer while the elms around it are still full. Symptoms show from early June and the season runs until September.

If you think an elm is infected, on public or private land, email the council’s Elm Disease Team with photos and the tree’s location. The council will inspect it and, if it is diseased, remove it. On private land it does this free of charge to the owner.

The council also asks people not to buy logs unless the supplier can guarantee they aren’t elm, because elm wood can carry the beetles that spread the disease.