If you don’t know what ash dieback is, it is worth checking out DEFA’s webpage: www.gov.im/ashdieback. This tree disease is going to dramatically change the appearance of our roads and landscapes over the next 10 years.

A question I am often asked is “what are the government doing about ash dieback?!”.

Due to the epidemiology of the disease, it is, unfortunately, nye on impossible to stop it spreading through our ash tree population. Because of this, DEFA have not attempted to start a control programme like they did for Dutch elm disease in the 1990’s. With no real interest in trying to prevent the spread of the disease, DEFA’s main interest relates to its duty of care to keep people safe on its own estate (i.e. in our national glens and forest areas). When ash succumb to this disease they have the potential to become a significant hazard to people and property. The Public Estates and Housing Division of the DoI, who manage a large and varied estate of public buildings and housing stock, also have this burden. Both these Departments of government have a ‘tree management strategy’ in place which sets out how they manage risk from trees, so as long as the policies and procedures set out in these documents are followed, and there is a budget available to undertake the work, risk of harm from diseased ash should be reduced to an acceptable level.