Officials warned four years ago about ash fungal disease The association wrote a letter to the Forestry Commission warning that Britain faced a "repeat of Dutch Elm disease" unless imports were banned, but its warning went unheeded. The Forestry Commission, however, thought that the disease was caused by a fungus already endemic in Britain, making a ban ineffective. It has since been discovered that the fungus is a new one. At that stage the disease was thought to be caused by a fungus already endemic in Britain, making a ban ineffective. The outbreak provoked a bitter debate in the House of Commons, where ministers faced questions about why they failed to implement the ban when it was first detected in a nursery in February. It has now spread to 20 sites. Mary Creagh, the shadow Environment Secretary, said that 25% cuts to the Forestry Commission's budget had hampered its ability to track the disease. She said: "Those cuts reduced the Forestry Commission's ability to identify and tackle tree disease. After the forest sell-off fiasco, this incompetent Government has been asleep on the job with ash dieback. Like Nero, ministers fiddled and now it is our forests that burn. Mr Heath insisted there had been "no reduction" in resources for plant and tree health, and claimed the airborne disease was likely to have been carried in the wind over the Channel. He confirmed that 100,000 trees have already been destroyed in an attempt to halt the spread of the disease, and urged members of the public to help. He said: "I'm very keen that we all take responsibility for this. We can't all be experts on fungal disease in ash trees, but where we do see that there is clear ill health reporting those areas will make sure we have healthy forests in the future. In an attempt to map and help prevent the spread of the disease, a team of developers and academics are creating a smart-phone app which lets people report suspected cases of infection. The app, called Ashtag, allows people to submit photos and locations of sightings to the Forestry Commission. The Forestry Commission is also encouraging people to report sightings directly by contacting it on 0131 3146414 or emailing plant.health@forestry.gsi.gov.uk. The first sign of an ash tree affected by the disease is when leaves begins to die at the crown of the tree. The fungus then spreads into the leaf and the stalk, and dark lesions begin to develop at the bottom of the branch.