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The War on Weeds begins

Plymouth City Council is declaring a War on Weeds.

Over the coming months, extra staff will be assigned to the task of clearing main roads and neighbourhoods of unwanted growth.

Using a variety of equipment including a modified sweeper, quad bike, weed rippers and sprayers, teams will be deployed across the city to treat and remove as many weeds as they can.  

Councillor Maddi Bridgeman, Cabinet Member for the Environment and Street Scene, said: “We know that weeds are an important issue for some people around the city, which is why we’re dedicating people power to the job.

“We’re prioritising main routes and will be moving street to street, neighbourhood to neighbourhood throughout the autumn and into the winter to try and meet resident’s expectation as to how the city should look.”

Weeds, by their very nature, are easily grown and our mild winters and wet summers give them a real helping hand. This, coupled with COVID-related staff absences and having to prioritise other critical services throughout 2021, have allowed the age old enemy to gain ground. 

Teams have already started visiting neighbourhoods to treat weeds with herbicide. Once treated it takes a good few weeks for the plant to die back and then teams will return to remove dead vegetation.

The herbicide, which is applied in dry weather, is used with targeted application methods.  If there aren’t weeds there is no treatment and if the weather isn’t right we will stick to more manual and mechanical methods which mean it will take us longer to get around the city. 

To go alongside the operational effort, an information campaign on the challenges the Council faces with the War on Weeds will run on the Council's Facebook and Twitter pages.

More information on our approach to weed control can be found at www.plymouth.gov.uk/waronweeds