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Cardiff Council has discovered an outbreak of Phytophthora ramorum at the Moundfield Motte site in Morganstown and will now be working to destroy the infected vegetation.
Phytophthora ramorum – known as Sudden Oak Death – is a fungal infection and has been found on rhododendron in the small woodland area around the motte. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has been informed and under its instructions the Council now has to remove and destroy all affected vegetation to limit the chance of the disease spreading.
Phytophthora spores spread through water, including airborne droplets which can be carried on animals, and through infected water in soil. The Moundfield site is extremely waterlogged and there are no footpaths.
The area will now need to be fenced off before any works take place to ensure that there is no public access to the infected area.
All vegetation will then need to be removed from around the mound and burnt in accordance with the destruction notice issued by the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA), an agency of DEFRA.
Because the site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, consent has been obtained from Cadw for this work to begin.
A second fenced off area in the north western corner of the field will need to be created for the burning to take place.
Due to this area being close to an adult-sized football pitch, use of this pitch will be suspended while the burning operations are in progress until at least the end of the year, subject to ground conditions.
This burning is also expected to take until at least the end of 2009.
The fencing will need to be retained on the main site to exclude public access until it has been declared free of the disease, which could take between three and five years.
The infection was detected when the rhododendrons on the site were routinely tested as part of the process of preparing the Conservation Management Plan for the Moundfield Motte site in early November.
This outbreak does not appear to be linked to a similar recent infection at Parc Cefn Onn.
Councillor Nigel Howells, Executive member for Sport Leisure and Culture, said: “Outbreaks like this are beyond the Council’s control and we are acting quickly, under instruction from DEFRA, to contain and eliminate this problem. Unfortunately this area will have to remain fenced off for some while, with a football pitch out also out of commission for several months.
“However it is vitally important that we destroy all the infected plants to prevent this problem spreading and the measures we are taking are vital to ensure that this is done properly.”
A DEFRA spokesperson said: “The Food and Environment Research Agency and Cardiff Council are working to contain and eradicate Phytopthora from Moundfield Motte. All members of the public are urged to observe restrictions in the area affected, keep to public footpaths, and keep dogs on leads, in order to minimise the risk of spreading the infection any further.”
