Disease-resistant English elms are being planted in Sheffield as part of a national trial to combat the effects of Dutch elm disease. The fungal disease has killed more than 60 million trees in the UK since it arrived in the 1920s. Experts say outside a cordon sanitaire in Edinburgh and Bristol there are fewer than 1,000 old elms in the UK. The Sheffield initiative will see 24 disease-resistant saplings planted at Greno Woods nature reserve. They will be grown in a small area of ancient woodland provided by Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust following the first planting on Monday.