THE fate of one of the world’s oldest English Elms hangs in the balance after it contracted a potentially fatal disease.

Brighton and Hove City Council’s arboriculturalists are hoping their treatment in cutting off infected branches could still save the almost 240-year-old tree in the Royal Pavilion Gardens.

The city’s prized elm tree collection is under increasing threat from disease this summer because of a warm and dry beginning to the season and residents storing wood in increasing numbers.

Calls are increasing for a leading prep school to pay the penalty for causing an infection which continues to claim elms two years on.

St Christopher’s, a Brighton College prep school in Hove, came under fire in 2015 when Dutch Elm Disease carrying beetles from a log pile in the school’s grounds infected 23 surrounding trees which had to be cut down.

Two trees from the grounds of Hove Museum have recently been felled along with a small street tree on the pavement outside which council experts believe can be traced back to the initial infection.

Cllr Tom Bewick, Labour ward councillor, said: “The council traced the original outbreak to the independent fee paying St Christopher’s school. At the time there were calls for a prosecution. At the very least, I am calling on the school to pay for the cost of chopping down these much loved trees, including the cost of replacing them. When the council is so cash strapped it is simply unfair to expect taxpayers to pick up the tab for what may have been negligence on the part of the school.”

Former Green councillor Christopher Hawtree said: “It is galling to think that the fate of Hove Museum is made worse by the loss of the elms at the front, and one fears all the more for others in the area.

“Strong measures now need to be taken by the council to secure funds from the school to replace these trees.

“We need to know who did the original felling and left the fatal branches on the ground to cause all our local woe.”

A council spokeswoman said: “All of these trees appear to have been losses following the initial infection and are a result of the disease being spread through connecting roots from the first infection at the museum.

“We believe that the initial infection may have come from the school but this cannot be confirmed but with all cases of infection later root spread can continue to cause problems and further losses.

“Whilst all of the beetle infected timber was removed from the school the disease remains a problem with an additional tree now succumbing to infection at St Christopher’s.”