Wiltshire Council Weed Management
We have been increasing the manual removal of weeds over the past few years, looking to control the weeds on rural verges by flailing and pulling. Our Streetscene teams will remove weeds daily from town centre areas and strim the amenity areas, plus sweepers are used to mechanically remove weeds when cleaning the highway. In addition, Parish Stewards undertake manual weed removal and a small amount of wipe / touch treatment (where weed killer is placed directly onto a leaf).
Although we continue to explore alternative weed treatment methods, chemical applications remain the most effective and efficient method of managing weeds on a large scale. As such, a weed treatment programme will commence on all identified highway land from March 2025. No weed treatment within 50 meters of schools will be undertaken. All treatment applications are licenced, permitted by legislation and applied appropriately. Following a review of alternative treatments, glyphosate will be used, with a touch spray to stop spray drift and uncontrolled application.
Where weed control has been delegated as a service to local councils, they can also undertake further weed treatments if they feel that this is a local priority.