During the spring this year I received emails from residents concerned about the removal of trees on the countryside. This was because they were ash trees infected with a disease called Ash Die Back. But our approach was not quite right and the Surrey team was removing trees at the nesting season in areas known to have wildlife like dormice.
I pulled the team in and we discussed how we could do better including a policy that focused more on leaving trees where we could as long as they did not pose a risk to walkers. After all the rain this year the trees infected with Ash Die back have deteriorated much faster and are coming down so we have had to commence removal work. We want to get this done before the spring and we do have a plan for rehabilitation of the countryside including more planting and habitat creation. Ash Die Back is a real problem which will change a lot of landscapes - you can find out more about it here
