A section of the B3135 will be closed at the top of Cheddar Gorge on weekdays until March 5 so 450 dangerous trees affected by ash dieback disease can be removed.

The B3135 Plummer's Lane will be shut on Mondays to Fridays, between 8am and 4pm, from today (February 8).

It will be closed at the top of the Gorge from the junction with the B3371 through to the crossroads to Priddy, which is a total closure of almost 3km.

The 450 ash trees are being removed by Mendip Trees and Landscapes because they have become dangerous to road users after becoming infected by ash dieback disease.

Chalara dieback of ash, or ash dieback, is a disease of ash trees caused by a fungus called Hymenoscyphus fraxineus.

Once a tree is infected, in most of the cases the tree's health will decline and often succumb to secondary fungal infection.

As ash trees succumb to the disease and slowly die, they can drop limbs and branches, collapse or fall.

The disease is now present in all counties of England. Experience in Europe suggests that the majority of ash trees in woodlands infected with the disease will decline and die.

A number of woodlands in the Cheddar area have been affected by the disease, with the main Cheddar Gorge road, the Axbridge Bypass and the car park at King's Wood near Winscombe all having been previously closed for safety works to take place.

The Somerset Wildlife Trust's Rose Wood, next to the A38 and Axbridge Bypass, is currently closed until further notice for felling to take place due to the disease.