An environmental campaigner fears toxic weedkiller is being sprayed on pavements without hitting weeds.
Save Our Starlings campaigner Steve Geliot was shocked to see a white substance dribbled along the pavement missing the weeds between the kerbstones and pavement.
He took photographs of the application – which he believes is the oil-based suspension of glyphosate – after watching workers applying the herbicide in Compton Road last Tuesday (23 July).
Earlier this year Mr Geliot organised a protest against Brighton and Hove City Council’s plans to restart using glyphosate weedkiller, sold commercially as Roundup.
Councillors voted to use the controversial herbicide in January after almost five years of unmanaged weed growth which attracted public complaints, unfavourable media coverage and critical comments on social media.
The council said that the “controlled-droplet” method used less glyphosate than conventional spraying and was more focused.
Mr Geliot said: “The application wasn’t very accurate. A lot of it missed the target.
“They didn’t move the wheelie bins and other clutter, then it rained, washing most of it into the water system.”
He spoke to a neighbour in Reigate Road who did not know glyphosate was applied and had the weedkiller on her hands.
Mr Geliot added: “Best not to do any weeding without rubber gloves now.
“Given the quality of the work provided by the contractors, I’m pretty sure when the contract is assessed, it will be regarded as a clear fail.”
He contacted Labour councillor Tim Rowkins, the council’s cabinet member for net zero and environmental services, to share his concerns for fear that the council would return to traditional spraying if this method failed to work.
The council said that the fluid was used to clean the equipment.
They said: “We have spoken to our contractors who have explained the white substance seen in these images is not glyphosate.
“(It is) a cleaning product which the teams run through the pipes after each shift to make sure they do not become blocked between uses.
“This is citrus-based and entirely safe for people, animals and the environment.
“We would also like to reassure residents we have been regularly monitoring the application of glyphosate since it was reintroduced and the team carrying out treatment locally is fully trained in the controlled-droplet method.”
Citrus kills worms off, and I’ve no idea what it does to other wildlife that predate on them. To improve my soil, I actually bought some worms from Yorkshire a few years ago. When I lift weeds in between paving stones, underneath pavers, or even my garden storage trunk, worms are usually present. I don’t use citrus or vinegar to kill my weeds, I just lift them if I can.
I don’t know what the solution is, we all want, want.
Absolute tragedy, there are hardly any insects left. This is huge, yet the world continues to spew out its toxins and produce more unnecessary things. Weeds can be managed without pesticides but the world cannot manage without critters. It all collapses, it’s currently happening….
The reporting on this issue is possibly getting out of hand now.
It’s on a par with the pollution in the sea issue, where every overflowing drain spotted after rain becomes the deliberate fault of Southern Water. For sure, sometimes that is true, but some people also seem quick to make an unfounded drama about everything.
When you see weeds, you could of course just roll up your sleeves, and clear them. That might take the same amount of time as moaning on social media.
People nowadays seem to have lost the ability to take a balanced view – and if you/we try to clear weeds in our streets we are then accused of pollinator genocide by those fake greens who, from the safety of their sofas, have fixed views after watching two TV programs on wildlife.
I grow vegetables in the old fashioned way at my allotment and, for sure, I would never use pesticides – because this is growing land where none of us ever uses chemicals. But the weeds in our gutters and residential streets do need clearing, one way or another, and spraying pesticides in dirty gutters is one solution.
As someone who worked today doing landscape gardening, I can assure you there are plenty of insects around right now (and biting me). Their life cycle works with the warmer weather, and not because we rewilded our streets.
At my allotment the main issue this year has been slugs and snails – which are in abundance and eating everything, after a wet and mild winter, when there was no frost to kill them off.
If you actually care about pollinators, then make a point of planting stuff they can feed off. If you have no garden, then get some pots.
I have a few topics I comment on, not all, and not every day. However, I do have issue with Councillor Tim Rowkins making a statement about citrus being wildlife friendly because his contractor’s told him so.
Yes, I know garden situations are very different to public spaces. I appreciate that. I also don’t like Neem Oil being spouted as the wildlife friendly alternative due to lit containing azadirachtin which isn’t good for birds.
You can do your own research on citrus and neem oil.
Gardening is one of my only joys, and I get bitten as well. Yes, there’s a glut of snails and slugs. In my own garden, plants need to survive my incompetance as a gardener, and also slugs and snails.
So “Save Our Starlings” campaigner Steve Geliot got if wrong and he’s been, yet again, spreading scaremongering misinformation.
Perhaps Steve should concentrate on his core competency (whatever that might be) rather than jumping on the anti-pesticide bandwagon and desperatrly trying to link his perceived drop in the local Starling population to use of weedkillers on pavements and in gutters.
It doesn’t sound like the council has done any robust follow up with the contractor. Of course the contractor would say they are using glyphosate properly, they’re not going to admit it to the organisation paying the contract if they aren’t. What actual proof did the council get from their contractor, eg did they ask the contractor to name the citrus liquid they say it is to back up the claim, are the council doing spot checks on the contractor to monitor that glyphosate is being applied properly. I have zero confidence the council is monitoring this contract properly from their comment – they’ve just got the contractor to mark their own homework from what I can see.
In my area, contractors were spraying during the rain, which is not only ineffective but will also wash the herbicide into the watercourse and Brighton’s aquifer. The contractors did not wear masks, although there was a light breeze that day. More fool them.
Moreover, the weeds, although dead, have not been removed, so they still present a trip hazard and are also now slippery underfoot because no longer upright. If these weeds had been removed mechanically, eg flame or metal strimmer, the pavements would be clear, without harm to wildlife or risk to pedestrians.
Of all the stupid policies Labour have brought it, this is one of the worst.