Damage to tree stocks has increased gradually over the last 30 years, due mainly to the increasing numbers of pests, the greater resistance of the pests to chemical means of controlling them and also because of the unusually high levels of pollution in the area. It is ironic that at least some of the pollution is because more people are driving into the area to view the trees, and it is the same visitors who are responsible for accidentally transporting some of the pests. The pesticide CH44 has had progressively less impact over the last five years and is expected to be no longer cost effective within two years, whilst CH72 is now useless.

Each year we send the report out in the first week of January and start getting feedback the following week. Last year, for the first time, we sent out e-mail reminders two days after the reports were posted and the amount of feedback we received increased dramatically over previous years. The response rate is affected by many factors, not least whether there is a down turn in the economy and if the weather is bad. The level of service we provide has less impact than these factors, though more than the price we charge, which has almost no impact at all. Almost all of the feedback we receive is very useful, though some people just send in complaints, which is far from useful. Most of the complaints are about things we have no control over at all.