Ash dieback disease Chalara fraxinea confirmed in Cheshire
The first case of ash dieback disease in the North West has been confirmed in Cheshire.
It's believed that a nursery in Knutsford imported a batch of trees infected with the Chalara fraxinea fungus.
Duncan Slater, a horticulture expert at Myerscough College in Lancashire said that with 80 million ash trees in the UK, it has the potential to have a greater impact than Dutch elm disease in the 1970s.
"It hasn't probably sunk in yet for most people that one in five of the trees they see in the landscape are ash trees and they may be dying back or dead within a year."
07 Nov 2012
- From the section Manchester