Council should ban weedkillers, report says

Pesticides, such as glyphosate, have been banned by other local authorities across the country

Rotherham Council should "work towards" banning pesticides, a report has said.

A number of recommendations have been made by a cross-party scrutiny committee, as part of efforts to reverse wildlife and natural habitat decline locally.

One of the recommendations is for the council to "work towards zero non-essential use of pesticides and zero glyphosate".

If the recommendations are accepted, the council would join a number of other local authorities in committing to ban weedkillers.

Other recommendations to be considered by Rotherham Council include more support for households to compost waste, an increase in tree-planting, and using council-owned sites to contribute to biodiversity strategies and targets.

The council declared a nature emergency in May 2022, and a review was held into how the council can enhance the borough’s natural environment, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said..

The council’s overview and scrutiny management board heard from a number of organisations about the state of the natural environment in the borough, including a decline in bird species and an increase in invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed.

The council has previously been praised for a scheme in which wildflowers were planted on grass verges.

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