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26
Jul 2021
‘Failure’ over weeds leaves North Yorkshire looking ‘like a jungle’
North Yorkshire County Council has been accused of a “total and utter failure” to prevent weeds from overgrowing pavements.
The county council is the highways authority, responsible for more than 9,000 kilometres of roads.
A full meeting of the council heard that residents from across North Yorkshire had voiced disbelief and anger over the volume of weeds left to grow up to two-and-a-half foot high besides roads.
The meeting heard that weeds were a problem across North Yorkshire and that more environmentally-friendly ways of killing weeds, such as hot water or steam treatments, were being used in Harrogate.
Several councillors spoke out about problems in their areas.
Councillor Helen Grant, the North Yorkshire Independent group representative for Central Richmondshire, described the standard of roads and pavements around Catterick as “appalling”.
Cllr Robert Heseltine, an independent for Skipton East, said the traditional back streets of Skipton had become “like a jungle”.
Cllr Heseltine added:
Combine harvester needed to tackle weeds
Stokesley division Liberal Democrat member Cllr Bryn Griffiths told the meeting urgent action was needed. He said:
Read more:
- Harrogate’s ‘rewilding’: untidy or biodiversity boon?
- Knaresborough’s grass verge vigilante fed up with council
The meeting heard claims that the amount of weeds was also due to the authority using particularly weak weedkiller and deciding to start clearing weeds at the end of July instead of in May.
Richmond Cllr Stuart Parsons, the North Yorkshire Independents group leader, said the weed situation was "a total and utter failing", adding:
Mild winters
In response, the authority’s executive member for highways, Cllr Don Mackenzie, who is also the Conservative representative for Harrogate Saltergate, said he was aware that areas close to the kerbs had become “quite affected by weed growth” and the council recognised that residents wanted weeds to be dealt with.
He said an increase in weeds was being experienced throughout the country due to mild winters, reduced use of salt, less traffic and pedestrians, and the council did not want to use chemicals more than once annually due to the environmental consequences.
Councillor Mackenzie denied there had been an issue handing contracts to NY Highways, which he said was experimenting in Harrogate with other more environmentally-friendly ways of killing weeds, such as hot water or steam treatments.
After saying residents were free to spend five minutes clearing weeds from gutters, Cllr Mackenzie was accused of “smoke and mirrors” to hide the gravity of the issue and that the concerns involved some busy roads.
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