Campaigners Angry As Council Drops Toxic Weedkiller Ban In Brighton & Hove

Environmental campaigners are planning to protest against proposals to reintroduce glyphosate weedkiller to the streets of Brighton and Hove.

Brighton and Hove City Council said that it was considering reintroducing glyphosate to manage unwelcome plants on pavements only.

It may bring back the herbicide – sold commercially as Roundup – in a “controlled droplet” way, applying it to individual weeds.

Details are contained in a report to the council’s City Environment, South Downs and the Sea Committee, giving councillors the option of keeping the ban and continuing with “manual removal”.

Election candidates of all political colours backed a ban on glyphosate in the run up to the 2019 council elections.

But during the local election campaign last year, many voters complained about the spread of weeds and the damage that they have caused to pavements, gutters and roads.

Save Our Starlings environmental campaigner and artist Steve Geliot called for a protest from 3pm next Tuesday (23 January) before the council committee meets. He said that the council had not consulted on the proposals.

Rather than operate a blanket approach to dealing with unwanted plants, Mr Geliot said that the council should “map it and zap it” by targeting plants with woody roots causing a hazard.

Mr Geliot has previously petitioned the council calling for a ban on chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides from council-owned downland to protect the starling population, famous for their murmurations.

When he first came to Brighton and Hove, there were 150,000 starlings. By two years ago, this was down to 8,000. Last winter there was a recovery to 13,000 birds.

He said:

“It is coincidental but what is good for the starlings is not using pesticides, keeping wild verges and anything supporting wildflowers and insects.

“There have been problems (for pedestrians) with weeds for access (to the pavements). I accept that. But this is in the urban fringe where they (starlings) breed in the summer.”

Mr Geliot said that bringing back glyphosate weedkiller would “suppress the food supply” and that starlings could be lost to Brighton and Hove by 2030 as a result. The ban, he said, showed that their numbers could recover.

Wildlife gardening expert Kate Bradbury, who lives in Hove, was shocked at the proposals to lift the ban, saying that it helped hedgehogs and starlings.

She said:

“Glyphosate is poison. It kills wildlife and causes cancer in humans – you only have to look at the number of lawsuits in the US to see this.

“In Brighton, many of us have noticed an increase in numbers of starlings, hedgehogs, house sparrows and moths since the ban.

“Those street weeds are providing a lifeline to wildlife amid the sea of paving and plastic grass that is encroaching on our gardens.”

Ms Bradbury is also concerned the chemicals will wash into the sea when it rains, affecting sea life.

The council has tried other methods since banning chemical sprays, including taking on extra staff to manually remove unwanted plants.

But too few people went for the jobs tackling weeds along the hundreds of miles of Brighton and Hove streets and, more weeds grew, they even made national headlines.

In response to Mr Geliot’s posts on Twitter, Labour councillor Tim Rowkins, who chairs the council’s City Environment, South Downs and the Sea Committee, said that councillors were not looking at a blanket approach but targeting specific weeds.

Councillor Rowkins (below):

“We have a duty to maintain safe streets for residents and we are currently failing in that regard.

“Continuing as we are is not an option. We have to act and have gone above and beyond to make sure we are doing so in a way that minimises any impact on biodiversity.”

The City Environment, South Downs and the Sea Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 4pm on Tuesday, January 23. The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.