Ventnor Town Council has confirmed its intention to stamp out the use of controversial glyphosate weedkillers.
The chemical weed treatment has recently been reintroduced after Island Roads received hundreds of complaints last year about the number of weeds. The highway authority stopped the use of glyphosates last summer, opting instead for organic herbicides and manual labour to remove the greenery but after not being able to meet its contractual obligations has reverted back to the chemical weedkiller.
While the makers of glyphosates say it is safe to use there have been concerns and bans on the product in various parts of the world.
The move to revert back to glyphosates has been met with backlash — including a petition signed by nearly 4,300 people, including wildlife television presenter Chris Packham, calling for the authority to think again.
Concerns had been voiced over the welfare of Ventnor’s wall lizards if the chemical was reintroduced.
Now, Ventnor Town Council has agreed to immediately ban the use of glyphosates on 18 areas of non-ornamental green land it owns.
At its meeting on Monday, it also agreed to look at practical alternatives and costings for ornamental areas, in the Cascades and Ventor Park, where glyphosates will still be used in the flowerbeds.
Following its meeting in March, the town council wrote a ‘strongly worded message’ to the Isle of Wight Council and Island Roads requesting a blanket ban of glyphosates in Ventnor, and more generally across the Island, but said it was told that would not happen.
Speaking at last night’s meeting, Ventnor mayor, Councillor Steve Cockett, said the town council was not in a position to make a definitive decision on the safety of glyphosates but recognised there was significant controversy surrounding them.
Cllr Cockett said there was no simple, straightforward like-for-like replacement as they are so effective and cost-efficient that removing their use would be at a cost or difference in quality in weed removals. There was also a reputational risk to the council, Cllr Cockett said, as there was an overwhelming feeling the public did not want the chemical weedkillers.
Deputy mayor, Councillor Steph Toogood, said she had spoken with the town council’s gardening contractors who assured her glyphosates used in the flowerbeds were used sparingly and at the lowest strength possible. To leave the flowerbeds untreated, Cllr Toogood said, would lead to too many weeds.
Councillors echoed what had been previously said about looking to remove its use entirely from the town but they needed to know costs to use alternatives.
A way forward will be decided at its next meeting.
While Councillors make the decision whether to use this chemical, which is carcinogenic, it is the poor operative who is most at risk. How much do they think he/she is worth £.. ?
– The same applies to farmers, who spray with it and consumers who eat the products of the plants treated with it…and that’s pretty much all of us..
So I’d say it’s well worth conducting some research of natural alternatives, such as minerals, vinegars, salts and burning. Or at least studying the findings of other’s research projects..
Not only they cause to humans but the insect population such as Bees.
I just get a hoe and remove them, better than these chemicals.
We don’t very often agree Isleofwighter but my late husband was a dairy farmer”back in the day”when Roundup was gloriously heralded as the new cure all,it was sprayed liberally over pasture lands etc”no masks”…he went on to become a firefighter,aged 42 diagnosed with Parkinson’s because of his young age he was under care of London Nuclear Hospital he died from this bloody awful disease aged 49,London did a test on a brain slither it was packed with Glyphosate which triggered the Parkinson’s gene he carried as do millions of us,had he not come into contact with it he may not have developed PARKINSONS.
I am so sorry to hear what happened to your late husband. There still seems to be too much tolerance of chemicals when the long term effects are unknown.
Human health should always come before economics.
BTW, I may not be the same Isle of Wighter as you sometimes disagree with. There at least two of us – my Username has no spaces and uses capital letters.
Regards.
Ventnor would vote to have more weed.
Don’t expect the council to clear the weeds then Ventnor, if you want that done increase your parish charges and then see what your residents say
Glyphosate such as RoundUp is well known for injuring or killing humans, dogs, cats, widlife. Why would the council ever use it in the first place! Monsanto (now Bayer for Roundup) has been sued for millions.
I wonder how the weeds around county hall are cleared? Just a thought.
Things were tough for me, I too was diagnosed with COPD but now we are both finally free from these diseases with the help of MULTIVITAMIN HERBAL CARE, He now walks properly and all symptoms have reversed. He had trouble with balance especially at night, getting into the shower and exiting it is difficult. Getting into bed is also another thing he finds impossible he said. We had to find a better soluti
Can we please be clear? Once and for all… The Cascades was a band which had the hit record ‘Listen to the Rythm of the Falling Rain.’ The Cascade, singular, describes the waterfall on Ventnor seafront. Only one waterfall, so Cascade. It b’ain’t Niagara Falls, nipper.