REDDITCH Borough Council has announced that a road and car park will be closed whilst essential tree safety works are carried out in October and November.

Ash trees afflicted by the global ash dieback disease are to be removed from the Pitcheroak and Foxlydiate woods and from along the Warwick Highway in Matchborough.

Deteriorating poplar trees will also be removed from the Warwick Highway area, as part of ongoing work to manage the trees now declining together in numbers, having been planted in swathes during Redditch’s new town expansion.

More suitable native tree species will be replanted where required.

It means that the Warwick Highway will have traffic lights at its roundabout with Claybrook Drive between October 21 and 28 October during works to trees along the highway, while the car park at the Pitcheroak Woods will be closed for three weeks between October 28 and November 15 during works to trees in Pitcheroak and Foxlydiate woods.

Bromsgrove Road will also be closed between the Pitcheroak and Foxlydiate woods between November 4 to 11.

The works are being done under Redditch Borough Council’s long-term Woodland Management Plan, established across 168 hectares of woodland in 1995, to manage the potential risk associated with the condition of Redditch’s countless trees and their proximity to roads, paths, and properties.

Redditch Borough Council’s portfolio holder for environmental services, councillor Sharon Harvey, said: “We all love how green Redditch is.

"That’s no accident and, thanks to the long-term management plan that the town has been following for nearly 30 years now, we can help keep it that way. Public safety is key of course, but the bigger picture is ensuring sustainability for future generations. Thank you for your patience as our staff and contractors get on with this latest work.”

The leader of the council, councillor Joe Baker, added: “Redditch is famous for being green and as a council we are proud to continue to promote sustainable, long-term strategies that keep it that way.”