Weeds Go Wild

4.21.01pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 11th Sep 2007

Local councillors are disappointed that efforts to deal with weed contamination on pavements and footways have been thwarted. Cllr Zoé Patrick, County Councillor for Grove and Wantage had proposed a motion asking that the budget for removing weeds from pavements should be reinstated as soon as possible before more damage is done, creating more costly repairs for the future. However, councillors were told yesterday that this motion along with others on the agenda tabled for today's full Council will now not be debated because there will not be sufficient time and they are not considered sufficiently urgent.

Cllr. Patrick said, "Residents have complained to me that it has become increasingly difficult in some areas to walk freely without either tripping over weed contaminated pavements or catching themselves on overhanging brambles and stinging nettles. The wet weather over the summer has made matters worse and some footpaths are already breaking up badly. This is incredibly short-sighted and will lead to more money being spent in the future."

Some weeds are as tall as Zoé!

In the past, parishes and towns have been given budgets to enable them to deal with local weedkilling themselves, but this has now been cut, and Liberal Democrats are calling for it to be reinstated as soon as possible.