There is news today on Sheffield Council’s plans to reduce the use of Glyphosate.
This is a good start, but the action falls far short of the demands of the petition that was signed by 6595 people.
We await the details of the scheme that will enable residents to keep their pavements Glyphosate free if they offer to remove weeds outside their homes. The question is, what is a weed? One person’s weed is another’s wild flower! Will residents be expected to pull everything out, even rare wild flowers that might be facing extinction? This includes one in five of all our wild flower species, thanks to the widespread use of herbicides. Will the mowing regime be changed so that residents can cultivate wild flowers on the verges? Will more areas in our parks be set aside for wild flower meadows to protect our endangered pollinators and insects?
Obviously some residents don’t have the capacity to weed outside their property. How will the Council help those that can’t manage this?
It is pleasing to see the Council moving in the right direction. The Greens on the new Cooperative Executive are obviously having some influence. But this, as the Council have declared, is a Nature Emergency and so demands emergency action.
Tell the Truth Sheffield 