Weedkiller axed to give nature a helping hand

WEEDS are likely to grow wild in one area of the West after the council decided to stop using a controversial weed killer.

Bath and North East Somerset Council acted after more than 3,000 people signed a petition urging it to stop spraying streets with glyphosate.

The appeal said the herbicide, a potential carcinogen, has “no place in our towns and cities, especially at a time when nature is in crisis”.

Council bosses committed to immediately stop using glyphosate on street weeds and put some funding towards using mechanical and manual methods until other viable treatment solutions can be found.

It comes as they agreed to spend an extra £950,000 to improve the district’s streets, parks and highways.

Addressing cabinet members Lily Hughes said: “We need to put the old-fashioned ideas of ‘neat and tidy nature’ behind us and embrace the wonderful wild plants in our streets before it is too late.

“Nature urgently needs our help. “We should leave many of our wild plants to do their job.

“By stopping the annual spray of glyphosate we can begin to slow and reverse the devastating impacts of biodiversity loss and start to secure a sustainable and healthy future for wildlife and ourselves.

“Let’s turn our streets in Bath and North East Somerset into a beautiful, buzzing network of insect-friendly habitats.”

The extra £950,000 will pay for enhanced street cleansing, graffiti removal, enforcement, gulley emptying and better response times to road and pavement maintenance.

The council will stop using glyphosate - except on invasive species such as giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed - and instead work with communities to manage street weeds in some locations.

Cllr Dave Wood, the cabinet member for neighbourhood services, said: “For 10 years now council tax bills have been going up and service levels have been going down.

“Our council staff work incredibly hard but the cuts have been so severe that we’ve reached an unacceptable position.

“We all know why this is. National government cuts to council funding have been devastating, but this doesn’t help our council tax bill payers who see dirty streets.

“In April we’ll be trialling £950,000 of investment in frontline services from street cleaning to graffiti from repairing our roads to banning glyphosate on our street weeds with immediate effect.”

The investment will provide an opportunity to pilot area-based delivery mechanisms, working in consultation with ward councillors and town and parishes councils to assess costs and bring forward longer-term plans.