Nature emergency declared but no weed killer ban

Council leader Nick Ireland said glyphosate was needed to tackle Japanese knotweed

A council has declared a nature emergency but it does not include an outright ban on the use of a controversial weed killer.

A motion put to Dorset Council initially included a clause to stop using glyphosate "where possible".

But campaigners, including broadcaster and naturalist Chris Packham, said the plan did not go far enough.

Before full council voted in favour of the motion on Thursday, leader Nick Ireland proposed an amendment to "commit to a glyphosate reduction plan".

Chris Packham urged Dorset Council to ban glyphosates completely

Declaring a nature emergency means the council commits to consider nature recovery in future decision-making.

Mr Ireland said: "The issue of glyphosate has been the most controversial clause and has resulted in an in-depth discussion.

"As a result the wording has been tweaked to accurately reflect that Dorset green space teams and highways are reluctant users of the herbicide and, when genuine alternatives become available, we will implement them.

"I do appreciate we need to get rid of glyphosates but we do have uses where we can't get rid of them completely - Japanese knotweed is one.

"I would like to think that by the end of the term of this Liberal Democrat administration, we have eliminated it completely, but now is impossible."

Conservative councillor Louie O'Leary said declaring a climate emergency was a "virtue-signalling gesture by a hypocritical chattering class so they can feel better over a slice of avocado on toast and a soya bean latte in the morning".

The majority of councillors backed the declaration, with 54 voting to pass the motion, 20 voting against and four abstaining.