Residents living in areas with “elm” in the name are to be tree-ted to a free disease-resistant sapling.

Elm Park resident Clive Gray collected his young tree from the Conservation Foundation’s first Ulmus londinium elm distribution, which took place at the Garden Museum in Lambeth, earlier this month.

Foundation director David Shreeve said: “Dutch elm disease was a disaster in the last century and Ash dieback reminds us how precious our native tree population is.

“We are very fortunate in this country to have a rich and diverse tree population but any loss within its biodiversity is to be regretted.

“That’s why after the loss of over 20million elm trees The Conservation Foundation continues to work with possible disease-resistant trees in the hope that we can find replacements for some of those lost.”

More distributions will follow, a number of high profile plantings will also take place, and parks and local authorities are to be offered elms.

The project, which is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, also includes a survey of London’s surviving elm population. To get a free elm email: elms@conservationfoundation.co.uk