Many of you will now be aware of the requirement to notify of certain plant imports but we thought you might want to see the full text of the letter from DEFRA to see the detail and reasoning behind their action.
Notification of import of oak, ash and chestnut are due to pests and diseases already known to be present in the UK but, interestingly, they have taken a proactive stance with plane trees. Massaria, the branch decaying disease, is already established in London but the reasoning for the notification requirement is their concern in respect of Plane Wilt (Ceratocystis platani).
Whether this approach, that deals only with ‘known knowns’ will be effective remains to be seen. It is a step closer to biosecurity for our islands but not as large a leap, to banning plant imports, that was called for by a number of our Registered Consultants in a letter to Owen Patterson and the national media.
Download the Defra letter