I think it’s important to start this blog by understanding how the council works first. It’s divided up into Norfolk county council and Norwich City Council. NCC manage our children play parks and open green spaces. The County council manage our roadside verges and pavements. So not everything that happens within the city, is in the remit of the City Council.
We are lucky in this area to have Councilor Matt Packer as one of our city councillors. He recently (March 2021) passed a motion to increase wildflowers. We are very much looking forward to working with him. They are following PAN UK advice and I believe these changes are planned over the next 3 years.
Norwich City Council have said:
• All works carried out involving spray on any of the city’s streets is being carried out by the contractors for Norfolk County Council as all highways related matters (which includes pavements as well as roads) falls under Norfolk County Council.
• Norwich City Council has approached Norfolk County Council about the weed spraying on highways, further work on this will be taking place.
• Round-up is not used by Norwich City Services Limited for the contracts it has with Norwich City Council within the city’s parks and open spaces, non-glyphosate based alternative herbicides are.
• The only exemption to this is where Trustee 450 – a herbicide that contains glyphosate – is used for stem injection to Japanese Knotweed. There is a very low level need to use this and, as it is stem-injected by trained operatives, there is no spray or run off of it. The Pesticide Action Network states that stem-injection is the acceptable way to target Japanese Knotweed. The council undertakes this approach where it is required as if did not do so, the council could be subject to legal action if it failed to address an invasive species.
Norfolk County Council- Trees, hedges and grass verges.
An online petition has been started to put some pressure on the Norfolk County council. It would be great to get some more signatures! We fully support Norwich City Council’s position and it would be great to get Norfolk County Council to follow suit, as they are responsible for pavements and highways within the city.
Please click here to sign the petition for Norfolk County Council to stop the use of glyphosate herbicides & pesticides.
So the conclusion is yes they do use weed killer and a lot! Personally, I would like to see an end to all weedkiller and not just glyphosate-based ones (brand- Roundup).
Taken from the Roundup website:
“This product is toxic to wildlife and highly toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates, including oysters and shrimp. To protect the environment, do not allow pesticide to enter or run off into storm drains, drainage ditches, gutters or surface waters. Applying this product in calm weather when rain is not predicted for the next 24 hours will help to ensure that wind or rain does not blow or wash pesticide off the treatment area. Sweeping any product that lands on a driveway, sidewalk, or street, back onto the treated area of the lawn or garden will help to prevent run off to water bodies or drainage systems. This product is toxic to bees exposed to direct treatment or residues on blooming crops or weeds. Do not apply this product or allow it to drift to blooming crops or weeds if bees are visiting the treatment area.”
Blog by E.Smith
2 thoughts on “Do Norwich council use weed killer?”
I’m very pleased to see we’re not using roundup. As regards weed killers in general I’m not convinced they are a good idea since half the wildflowers I plant are probably just weeds to someone.
I feel that weed killers are, for the most part, unnecessary, especially if we are now increasing the wildflower coverage in NR3. Also I have read of Dog poisonings even when the spray is dry and that it remains latent until consumed in a large enough dose.