Call for town to go pesticide free

ROYAL BOROUGH: A wildlife group called on councillors to turn Maidenhead into a ‘pesticide-free town’ at a meeting onMonday evening.

Pesticides are used across the borough in places such as parks and schools to control ‘perceived issues’ such as vermin and weeds, Wild Maidenhead said.

However, the group believes the products can have ‘serious human health impacts’ and contaminate water supplies.

It is also said to have a negative effect on urban wildlife and has been identified as a factor in the decline of hedgehogs.

WildMaidenhead’s Angela Alexander told theMaidenhead Town Forum that countries such as France have banned the use of all non-agricultural pesticides in public green spaces, adding that many local authorities in the UK have also gone pesticide-free.

They requested that the Royal Borough considers going down the same route, but to retain

‘very limited use’ of pesticide for Japanese Knotweed – a highly invasive plant which can cause serious harm to humans.

Ms Alexander told the meeting that residents should consider weeds as ‘pavement plants’ and acknowledged that her idea was not something to be done ‘overnight’.

Forum member Councillor

John Baldwin (Lib Dem, Belmont) said it was an area that needed ‘serious attention’, with many residents not knowing what the negatives of pesticides were.

WildMaidenhead urged the town forum to make recommendations to the Royal Borough’s cabinet that Maidenhead should become a pesticide-free town.