The Dear Green Place will be less green as tens of thousands of trees are to be chopped down in Glasgow to combat a fungal disease spreading though the city.

Action is needed to prevent branches falling off or trees toppling without warning potentially injuring people and damaging homes and property.

A number of the city’s trees are estimated to be affected by ash dieback disease which has been steadily spreading north in the UK.

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Around 12% of trees on public land in Glasgow are ash trees and 35,000 of them are thought to be at high risk of the disease.

The areas in Glasgow where ash trees are big enough to cause harm are in places where members of the public use on a regular basis.

The council said the areas are highways and street trees, in school or social work premises grounds.

Also in sport and leisure centres, parks and open spaces and in high use areas in woodlands in allotments, high use areas within cemeteries.

The council is now looking at cutting down 31,000 trees in the coming years to tackle the problem.

The cost of felling and removing the trees is expected to run into tens of millions of pounds and the city council said it will need the Scottish Government to help with costs.

Ash dieback is caused by a fungus and is thought to be the biggest issue affecting trees since Dutch elm disease led to the loss of millions of trees across the UK in the 19870s and 1980s.

Council parks and tree officers have notices an increase in Ash dieback in the last two years.

Tree experts say there is no evidence that the fungus can affect or infect humans or animals.

Instead, the risk is from dead or dying trees falling down or branches falling off with the risk of injury cand damage to the public and property.

It costs between £800 to £1200 to fell a tree with the total cost of the programme estimated to be as much as £38million.

George Gillespie, executive director of neighbourhoods at Glasgow City Council said: “Clearly these are huge sums and the expectation although unconfirmed at the moment is there will be a level of Government support to address this Country wide issue.

“The visual and environmental impact will be unavoidable, as ash trees make up just over 12% of the tree population across Glasgow. Although, this loss could be alleviated within a period of approximately 20 years as replacement trees reach heights of approximately 10 to 15 metres.”

While there are 125,000 ash trees in parks and on streets that the council is responsible for there are around the same number on private land including in people’s gardens.

These trees will also need to be inspected and action taken by owners if they have the disease.

It means that potentially another 30,000 on private land could need to be cut down.