Leeds City Council are carrying out tree safety works on trees along Otley Old Road and Old Lane.
They plan to remove 10 trees and prune 5 trees.A map to show the location of the trees and job areas is below. Trees to remove are marked in pink and trees to prune are marked in green.
The works are due to take place on:
26/11/26 – 20:00-04:00 (broken down below based on specific location)
26/11/2026 – 20:00-23:00 – ADB1051
26/11/2026 23:00-00:00 – ADB984
27/11/2026 00:00-04:00 – ADB983
Unfortunately, in this case, a full road closure is necessary to complete the work safely. Works have been planned in conjunction with colleagues in Network Management to ensure traffic management is set up at a time which will cause minimal disruption. All properties within the closure will receive a letter of notification. LCC apologise in advance for any disruption caused.
The trees have been identified for removal or pruning by external surveyors as part of Leeds City Council’s Ash Dieback Project.
Ash Dieback disease is a fatal condition affecting ash trees, caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. First identified in the UK in 2012, Ash Dieback has now spread across the country, leading to rapid tree decline, with some trees already posing significant risks to public safety and infrastructure. The disease progresses through four stages, Class 1 (0-25% canopy dead), Class 2 (25-50% canopy dead), Class 3 (50-75% canopy dead) and Class 4 (75-100% canopy dead). Trees within Classes 3 and 4 generally pose the highest risks, particularly when coupled with a secondary defect.
Trees of this condition are extremely unlikely to recover from the disease.
Leeds City Council has a statutory duty to ensure that trees under its control do not pose unreasonable risks to people. We are focussing on mitigating unreasonable risks posed by ash trees with canopy conditions of Class 3 or Class 4, or those which are presenting any secondary defects, along with trees of other species presenting obvious defects identified during the survey. Where possible, risk will be mitigated using appropriate pruning techniques, although it is likely that a large number of these trees will have to be removed. It should be mentioned that the council has a duty to enforce the removal of any private trees posing an unreasonable risk to the highway under the Highways Act 1980 s154(2).
As part of the project the council has committed to replacing these trees at a rate of 5:1, with a more suitable species, in woodland creation banks across the city.
For further information on Ash Dieback in Leeds and to view our interactive map, where you can view inspection details and images of each tree, please visit our website and interactive map using the following link: Ash dieback disease | Leeds.gov.uk
