A CAMPAIGNER is urging people to take action to stop the spread of an invasive weed and save roadside trees from ivy.

Michael J. Woodhall, from Houghton, is campaigning to kill off an ivy called Hedera Helix.

The plant is a common ivy found throughout Europe and western Asia, but he said it is threatening the health of trees around the county.

Mr Woodhall said it is making them susceptible to high winds and storms, which poses a danger.

He said trees covered in ivy cladding have had the plant growing around their bases for many years, thereby inhibiting growth and making them unstable due to the weight of the ivy.

He also said that in some cases, ivy may be disguising undetected structural defects in the trees themselves.

Whilst county arboriculturalists argue that the ivy does provide a haven and refuge for some wildlife such as birds and insects, Mr Woodhall said hedgerow trees form an important part of the countryside and have taken decades to grow and are now under threat.

He said: “I am very disturbed about our lovely roadside trees in particular and in fact trees throughout the countryside have been completely damaged by ivy climbing up them.

“When the trees are on the roadside and are obviously part of the landscape of the hedgerow up and down the county, they are the ones that of course are vulnerable to high winds, falling on cars, pedestrians and blocking the highway”.

Mr Woodhall praised actions taken by landowners, such as the Leckford Estate, who have cut a margin around the circumference of the trees to halt the growth of the ivy, and after one year the dead ivy can be removed.

He is now calling on land and property owners to consider taking appropriate action.

He said: “People have got to believe that it is a credible cause. When you see a wonderful oak pulled over by the storms, these trees have taken hundreds of years to grow and end up being lost within a few minutes."

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