Dutch elm disease wiped out tens of millions of elms in the UK from the 1960s onwards and now chalara dieback is looming large over the country’s ash tree population – the third most common broadleaf tree after oak and birch.

"The government is taking precautionary action now to prevent a recurrence of that situation [Dutch elm disease] and to protect our landscape, industry and wildlife," said Dr John Morgan, head of the Forestry Commission’s plant health service.

Recent discoveries of ash tree infections in several nurseries and tree planting sites in England and Scotland have led to the robust appraoch from the Forestry Commission and the Food & Environment Research Agency.

Legislative action may involve banning the movement of young ash trees from areas where the disease may be present. A consultation period on possible action closes on October 26, after which recommendations will be made to manage the threat to UK ash trees.

The UK could pass legislation to restrict imports of ash saplings, as long as it can prove to the EU that it is free of the disease. As the disease has not been yet detected in the UK’s wider natural environment [beyond nurseries and recent plantings], the Forestry Commission believes that the case for such legislation is justified.

The disease has spread fast and widely in Europe since first being identified in Poland in 1992.