Topic: Weedkiller used on council pavements?

[fluffygrue]

I've just seen a council guy spraying our pavement, hopefully missing our lavender hedge used for wine.. The council tell me they can't tell me the name of the weedkiller used, for 'Health and Safety Act reasons'. I suspect that's BS, but..

Does anyone know what they use? (Manchester Council, specifically..) How long does it stay on plants/soil for? I know absolutely nothing about weedkillers, being completely organic. I don't particularly want to stop using my lavender hedge. :/

Melanie

[Svea]

health and safety act reasons? that IS bullshit - because surely, as the owner of the hedge you have a good reason knowing for YOUR health and safety what they have used on /near it

i think a letter to your environmental health officer/green officer/similar is in order, liberally cc'ed round the council (OH did this for a query regarding speed check cars - why do they leave their engines running when parked - and he had answers pretty swiftly).

hopefully someone on this board can point you to the kind of acts and bylaws that you might want to quote to give your query more 'clout'

[fluffygrue]

Aha, thanks for that, I was hoping it wasn't just me being cynical! I think I'll send a quick email requesting the info again, and if that fails I'll submit a 'Freedom of Information' request.

Will see what happens! :)
Melanie

[tim]

Good point - I must check it out here.

[tabbycat]

Our council sub-contracts out all it's stuff like that and I've found that it's often easier to ring the company concerned direct - they don't seem so obstructive as the council somehow (probably because they are a "real" business & don't operate in local authority la-la land!)

The health & safety line is total rubish, as Svea says - the truth is they probably don't even know what they use and can't be bothered to find out.

Tabbycat

[growmore]

They use glyphosphate round  this neck of the woods .He rides round on a quad bike thing..Cheers ..Jim..

[gtm41658]

Hi Fluffygrue...the H&S Act the council refered to is not secretive......more over it is quite the opposite...........more to the point though what are they using as under environmental laws they cannot use anything harmful to the environment, that includes plants, fauna etc etc...

what if someone was passing by and was sensitive to the product used....where would the council sit then when a claim was bought???

[RSJK]

Think the council use roundup this part of the woods, once it comes in to contact with soil that is the end of it,

[Columbus]

Hi Fluffy,

I`ve seen people squirting this from backpacks and it seemed untargeted spraying. It goes all over the place. I thought it was glyphosphate, after they`ve been around the results look the same. You might want to take before and after photos if they`ve allowed it to drift onto your property.

I`d say they have a duty not to indiscriminately spray your hedges with poisons, surely that would come under health and safety legislation.

Keep us posted, Col

[amphibian]

Two council folk on quads came barrelling along our pavements today liberally soaking everything in weedkiller, my front patio is packed with plants and only separated from the path by a wire fence. I am very concerned by this practice. My daughter was also pottering in the front garden at the time.

[growmore]

If they use them correctly not bowl along but go at a steady pace there should be very liitle drift of glyphosphate as on the quads the nozzles are pointed at the ground and are not really a spray more of a soaker ..The back packs applicator should be set to a course soaker and not a spray ...I believe they have to have attended a course and gained some sort of certificate to operate  both these....
cheers ..Jim

[saddad]

Aye, and what use is a certificate!
Even the safer sprays leave me cold, and you don't do that for a living if you can do better!
Remember Monsanto (Roundup) are the people that brought out Agent Orange!
 :-\

[Stork]

If you really want to know what they are using you should write stating your request is made under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2005.

Under the Act they are legally obliged to disclose information that is not deemed to be "commercially sensitive."  I don't think they have a leg to stand on in their refusal to tell you what they are spraying all over your hedge.

Good luck.

Stork.

[Svea]

it kind of makes me sad that we have to cite 'freedom of information 'acts - or that we have need for such an act in the first place

honestly, the world would be a better place with a bit of goodwill and common sense - but they dont seem to teach that in schools anymore

[stuffed]

The health & safety line is total rubish, as Svea says - the truth is they probably don't even know what they use and can't be bothered to find out.

Me thinks this is about right!!!

[saddad]

Hi Svea, I'm a secondary school teacher at the bottom of most league tables so don't get me started on that sort of Rant!
 :-X

[keithy]

"honestly, the world would be a better place with a bit of goodwill and common sense - but they dont seem to teach that in schools anymore"

Nostalgia ain't what is used to be, eh ?  They clearly didn't teach commonsense when the council worker went to school either, or perhaps it was the CSE Jobsworth Grade 2 that got him/her the job ?

I'm inclined to think that the kids at school now are so used to getting any kind of information at the click of a mouse, by the time they get to working in the council ( it could be worse ...  they could grow up to be weedkiller salesmen ) , they'll just Google it for you !!

[saddad]

Touche Keithy, the world doesn't need any more weedkiller salesmen but council workers are definitely needed and the better able they are to find out for them ;Dselves the better!