Herbicide-free approach to tackling weeds in Cambridge welcomed - and schools and university urged to follow suit

A programme to tackle the growth of weeds in Cambridge without the use of herbicides has been welcomed by campaigners, who have now urged schools and University of Cambridge colleges to follow suit.

Cambridge City Council has approved a ‘herbicide-free weed management work programme’, which means that instead of damaging chemicals, it will use mechanical sweepers and hand tools, such as hoes and brushes, to clear weeds from all council-owned sites, including parks, car parks and housing areas.

It said these methods were “better for the environment, and better for the health of residents and council officers, than standard herbicides”.

The city council has already ceased using herbicides on all pavements, verges and roads within Cambridge, which it manages under contract for the county council.

The work programme, approved by councillors on the environment and community scrutiny committee, sets out a systematic ward-by-ward approach to managing the growth of unwanted vegetation like weeds.

It includes:

- Intensive initial efforts to address the backlog of weed growth following the phase-out of herbicides;
- Regular, scheduled cleaning to prevent excessive weed build-up;
- Use of mechanical sweepers and weed ripper brushes to maintain streets and pavements;
- Collaboration with the county council to manage Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders for safe operations in high-traffic areas; and
- Ongoing monitoring and adjustments to improve efficiency and responsiveness.

Residents are being encouraged to report weeds and unwanted vegetation growth by going online to cambridge.gov.uk/report-weeds-or-invasive-plants so that it can be addressed by the council.

It has been working with campaign group Pesticide-Free Cambridge on the policy and has been collaborating to provide training and guidance to local schools about how they can reduce their usage of herbicides.

Going herbicide-free bolsters biodiversity by aiding pollinators such as bees and butterflies, while improving soil and water quality, preventing chemical runoff into local waterways, and protecting people, as chemical herbicides are hazardous to health.

Ben Greig, of Pesticide-Free Cambridge, said: “‘Naturally we are delighted at the city council’s continued commitment to being herbicide-free.

“The city council has implemented new, more highly effective equipment to tackle vegetation growth. It is clear that they are committed to being herbicide-free and have worked through how to put this into practice effectively.

“Although the build-up of vegetation in road channels has been considerable, especially given a very wet 2024, we hope that residents can now see that this is being tackled.

“Pesticide-Free Cambridge’s collaboration with the council dates back years before we even contributed significantly to a communications strategy in spring of 2024. That strategy is still yet to be implemented which is why very few residents are aware the city council is herbicide-free for a full year and some wards – Newnham and Arbury – since spring 2022! Schools and colleges continue to use the very same herbicides and even more damaging pesticides.

“In short, we are extremely proud to have a herbicide-free city council. But we are also very frustrated at the glacial speed of its communications. Last year the council declared a butterfly emergency; let’s get the word out about how to go herbicide-free if we are serious about addressing the biodiversity crisis!”

Julia Shaw, founding member of Pesticide-Free Cambridge, is also principal investigator of the UCL pesticides and urban nature project, which has in part been measuring the socio-cultural impacts of Cambridge’s movement away from herbicides.

She said: “It’s wonderful news that the city council’s herbicide-free weed management work programme has now been approved.

“The initiative has already impacted positively on the city’s biodiversity, public health, and aesthetic appeal since the two-ward herbicide-free trials were introduced in 2022.

“We started this campaign way back in 2019, at a time when the coming of spring was still marked by mile upon mile of ugly yellow strips of vegetation die-off on just about every verge and pavement across the city. This seems like a distant world now, to the extent that the visual impact of herbicide spraying, in areas not managed by the city, does stand out like a sore thumb.

“It is vital that other stakeholders – schools, as well as Cambridge University and its constituent colleges – are supported in following suit, but also that the rationale for going herbicide-free is explained to residents, in the hope of avoiding misassumptions about ‘re-wilding’ potentially scuppering this fantastic scheme that models Cambridge as a success story in the pesticide-free towns movement.

“Such reversals are, unfortunately, common, as illustrated by Cambridgeshire County Council’s short-lived herbicide-free policy.

“However, this is not the time for complacency. We’ve always known that local authority herbicide use is the tip of the iceberg.

“Private use of herbicides, and other groups of urban pesticides, including pyrethroid-containing insecticidal sprays and powders, both in green spaces, and in and around the built environment, are rife throughout the city.

“These, together with veterinary insecticides, have been shown to be harmful to birds, and other non-target wildlife, and also come with human health risks. We hope that the council will support us in tackling this broader use of pesticides through its long-since delayed communications strategy, the launch of which we of course welcome.”

Visit pesticidefreecambridge.org.