Call for Shropshire Council to useq insect-friendly methods in fight against weeds
Oswestry Town Council is calling for an end to the use of glyphosphate or neonictinoids weedkillers on public land.
Councillors voted in favour of a motion by the mayor, Olly Rose, who wants manual or non-chemical methods to be usedas the main element in the battle against weeds.
The council is to ask Shropshire Council to stop the use of glyphosates and oppose any use of neonictinoids in the town and requesting other councils also contact the unitary authority.
"Shropshire Council has no policy on glyphosate use or guidance on how to use at present," the mayor said.
Councillor Rose said that in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer published its findings into the relationship between cancer and glyphosate – a herbicide – and classified it as possibly carcinogenic to humans – it had scientific data that it definitely caused malignant tumours in animals she said.
"In this time of species depletion should we be removing plants that provide food necessary for all manner of insects at all? Or could we trial leaving weeds - which are often simply wildflowers - to grow in certain areas to test public opinion. They can of course be manually removed if causing hindrance to pedestrians. Destroying these plants in iteself causes biodiversity loss."
