A deadly disease infecting thousands of larch trees in the

Westcountry should be treated like the foot-and-mouth crisis, it has

been claimed.

Neil Parish, Conservative MP for Tiverton and

Honiton, pressed the Government to set up a "national war room" to

tackle the fast-spreading disease, commonly known as sudden oak death.

Earlier this year, it was estimated about 2,000 hectares (200 million sq m) have been affected in the South West.

The

airborne disease is highly contagious, and trees in Devon, Cornwall and

South Wales have already been felled. So far there is no known cure.

A

parliamentary debate was secured into the effects of larch disease on

forests by Mr Parish. He said: "This disease needs to be treated like

foot- and-mouth."

Mr Parish added: "There's a real risk of significant productive areas being lost in the South West.

"Larch disease is one where not everyone realises what's happening to our forests. We need to tackle this quickly."

Phytophthora

ramorum (P. ramorum) is thought to have arrived in this country via

imported plants. Its ability to spread across larch trees is five times

faster than other trees.

It is a fungal disease and the spores

are carried on the wind. The best way to control it is to fell the

infected trees as soon as possible.

The discovery of the disease

on larches in South West England in 2009 was the first time in the world

that a commercially grown conifer species had been found with P.

ramorum infection. Until then it had mostly affected shrub species like

rhododendron.

Forestry minister Jim Paice said on taking up his

post last year he had quickly realised the severity of the disease. He

said: "Basically our policy is to cut them down as quickly as possible.

It's obviously a massive challenge."