War on Cambridgeshire’s weeds is underway after policy U-turn by county council

Cambridgeshire’s war on weeds is well underway with more than 440km of kerbside already treated after a U-turn in policy.

The county’s chemical weed treatment programme is in full swing with 440km treated in the first few weeks – the equivalent distance of just under 5,000 football pitches.

The programme will cover 243 parish areas in total.

The programme began on June 24 across the county and is expected to finish in August. There will be another treatment later in the year.

Chemical weed treatment is applied directly to weeds in the kerb line of roads and footways.

It will typically take about three to five weeks for the treatment to take effect, after this, road sweepers will come along to remove dead weeds. It is dependent on the weather – weed treatment cannot be done in wet and windy conditions.

The county’s highways and transport committee reviewed the weed spraying policy, which last year saw the council decide not to weedkill – leading to a raft of complaints from across Cambridgeshire.

It included a petition led by Manea’s district councillor Charlie Marks and saw nearly 1,000 people sign it in less than a week.

As a result of all the complaints the county council agreed to review its policy earlier this year, and a U-turn was agreed.

A survey was sent out to 250 parish, town, city and district councils across Cambridgeshire as part of the review and 162 responses were received.

Cllr Alex Beckett, the committee’s chairperson, said: “We have listened to the concerns raised by residents, councillors, district councils and town and parish councils and have taken strong action to make our roads safer and better – with planned chemical treatments now being delivered at least twice a year.

“While some communities really appreciated the reduction in chemical weed killing, a large number did not. We received seven responses from areas that do not wish to be part of the chemical weed treatment programme, so we are working with them on alternative methods.

“Myself, Cllr Neil Shailer (committee vice-chair) and many other councillors have heard a lot from people about weeds, we’re ready for the battle to commence and we hope to get to the root of the issue – all puns aside, we know how serious this is for residents which is why we have been out with the highways crew to see them in action.

“We followed them in Milton today, but the team will be making their way around 243 parishes so if we haven’t got to you yet, we will be shortly.

“We are working hard to deliver safer and better journeys for all – and are proud of the way that we are a listening council. We will keep this programme under review, and if excessive weed growth is reported, we’ll act on this feedback and tackle those areas accordingly.”

The second treatment will take place in October to get the weed growth under control before the next growing season.

For those who chose to opt-out – Cambridge city, Caxton, Duxford, Lolworth, Morborne, Burwell and Girton – the county is working with them to agree on alternative methods.

The council will keep this programme under review and if excessive weed growth is reported, they will be treated accordingly.

For more information on our weed treatment programme (we need to update the website with the full programme) visit the council’s website.