Imports of sweet chestnut trees could be banned under Government proposals to prevent a repeat of the ash dieback crisis threatening ash trees across the country.

Ministers are consulting on plans to ban the trees' import from areas such as France where they are suffering from sweet chestnut blight, which can kill them.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson announced proposals for the ban at the "stop the spread" garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, commissioned by the Food and Environment Research Agency and supported by Government and a number of organisations.

He said it would mean the UK was ahead of the disease, unlike ash dieback which was already in the country when an import and movement ban was introduced.

"It's the first time a government has ever put plant disease on the same level as animal disease," he said.

He said the hope for ash trees was finding ones resistant to ash dieback, and pointed to a "new horizon" Dutch elm resistant tree as a "symbol of the future".