Agenda item

The Council considered a report on the receipt of a joint petition and e-petition, containing a combined total of 534 signatories and e-signatories, requesting the Council to ‘Phase out the use of pesticides, including glyphosate, in Guildford.’

 

As there were in excess of 500 signatures, the Council’s Petition Scheme required the full Council to debate the matters raised by the petition/e-petition and to indicate to the petition organisers what action the Council proposed to take in response.

 

The report included the petition organisers’ supporting statement accompanying the petition, which had stated:

 

“Every year, our pavements, streets, parks, playgrounds and other open spaces in Guildford are sprayed with pesticides. In particular, glyphosate is used across the borough on a regular basis. Inevitably, we as Guildford residents come into contact with these pesticides, as do our children, pets and local wildlife.

Pesticides (including glyphosate) have been linked to an array of health problems, from neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, cancers such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma to autism in children. Vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women and the elderly are most at risk of being affected.

As well as damaging human health, pesticides harm urban biodiversity. Pesticides are key contributors to the dramatic reductions in insects such as bees and other pollinators. Glyphosate has been shown to affect bees’ ability to navigate, their sleep, larval development, and immunity to deadly infections. Glyphosate also kills flowering plants that bees and other insects rely on. This reduction in pollinators has far-reaching consequences for both wildlife and people.

Pesticides contaminate our water supply and harm aquatic life. They also poison our soils and harm soil invertebrates such as worms.

Urban pesticide use is unnecessary. Many towns and cities around the world have banned them. Pesticides are banned in all green public spaces across the whole of France. Copenhagen and Seattle manage their public spaces without pesticides. Councils across the UK are showing it can be done too with over 60 councils now implementing programs to phase out their use. Locally, Waverley borough, Petersfield and Chichester have all committed to phase out pesticides whilst trialling alternatives.

Well tested, cost effective and safe non-chemical alternatives to pesticides exist and are already being used in other towns locally. Using alternatives, or simply leaving some weeds in place to flower (where they do not cause a hazard) would have a positive impact on biodiversity and human health in Guildford.

We are asking Guildford Borough Council to phase out the use of pesticides, including glyphosate, in Guildford.

Please support us, sign this petition, share it with your friends and help make our town pesticide free.

This petition has been organised by Guildford Environmental Forum, a voluntary organisation that works to promote environmental protection in and around Guildford.”

The co-organisers of the petition Helen Harris and Frances Rollin, who were also members of the Guildford Environmental Forum, made a statement to the Council in support of their petition.  Nick Mole (Policy Officer, Pesticide Action Network UK) also addressed the meeting in support of the petition.

 

The Lead Councillor for Environment, Councillor James Steel proposed, and the Lead Councillor for Economy, Councillor John Redpath, seconded the following motion in response to the petition:

 

“This Council acknowledges the work that officers have already undertaken to minimise chemical use and to explore alternative methods of weed control.  We also recognise that the current Chemical Minimisation Policy, whilst still relevant, needs review.

 

The Council aims to stop using chemicals and believes that the approach to be taken should be to phase out their use as quickly as is practicable, recognising that at present it may not always be possible to eliminate their use altogether.

 

The Council feels that a detailed chemical action plan should be developed that includes continued commitment to:

 

•  existing chemical reduction actions

•  exploring alternatives

•  communication

•  educating site users and managing expectations

•  working with partners to facilitate alternative approaches

 

To that end, the Council therefore

 

RESOLVES: That the Executive be requested to urgently consider and approve the proposed chemical reduction measures in 2022 set out in Appendix 6 to the report submitted to the Council.”

 

Under Council Procedure Rule 15 (o), Councillor Steel as the mover of the original motion, indicated that, with the consent of his seconder and of the meeting, he wished to alter his motion as follows:

 

(1)    Substitute the following in place of the 3^rd paragraph of the motion:

 

“The Council aspires to becoming a pesticide and herbicide free borough (to the greatest extent possible), following an agreed three-year phase-out plan, and accordingly feels that a detailed chemical action plan should be developed that includes continued and public commitment to:

 

(2)    Omit the fifth bullet point.

 

(3)    Add the following bullet points:

 

·     “establishing a working group involving partners including the Pesticides Action Network and the Guildford Environmental Forum to facilitate alternative approaches

·     Collaborating on the phasing-out of pesticide use with Surrey County Council and Waverley Borough Council (who have already adopted a similar policy)

·     Incorporating the Council’s chemical action plan in all relevant contracts.”

 

(4)    Add the following to the end of the resolution:

 

“and committing the Council to working with the County Council in developing a joint pesticide policy”.

 

The motion, as altered, would read as follows:

 

“This Council acknowledges the work that officers have already undertaken to minimise chemical use and to explore alternative methods of weed control. We also recognise that the current Chemical Minimisation Policy, whilst still relevant, needs review.

 

The Council aims to stop using chemicals and believes that the approach to be taken should be to phase out their use as quickly as is practicable, recognising that at present it may not always be possible to eliminate their use altogether.

 

The Council aspires to becoming a pesticide and herbicide free borough (to the greatest extent possible), following an agreed three-year phase-out plan, and accordingly feels that a detailed chemical action plan should be developed that includes continued and public commitment to:

 

·       existing chemical reduction actions

·       exploring alternatives

·       communication

·       educating site users and managing expectations

·       establishing a working group involving partners including the Pesticides Action Network and the Guildford Environmental Forum to facilitate alternative approaches

·       Collaborating on the phasing-out of pesticide use with Surrey County Council and Waverley Borough Council (who have already adopted a similar policy)

·       Incorporating the Council’s chemical action plan in all relevant contracts.

 

To that end, the Council therefore

 

RESOLVES: That the Executive be requested to urgently consider and approve the proposed chemical reduction measures in 2022 set out in Appendix 6 to the report submitted to the Council and committing the Council to working with the County Council in developing a joint pesticide policy”.

 

The Council agreed to accept the alteration to the original motion, as indicated above. The motion, as altered, therefore became the substantive motion for debate.

 

Following the debate on the substantive motion, but before the vote was taken on it, Nick Mole, on behalf of the petition organisers, exercised their right of reply on the debate.

 

The Council

 

RESOLVED:  That the Council’s response to the petition is as follows:

 

“This Council acknowledges the work that officers have already undertaken to minimise chemical use and to explore alternative methods of weed control. We also recognise that the current Chemical Minimisation Policy, whilst still relevant, needs review.

 

The Council aims to stop using chemicals and believes that the approach to be taken should be to phase out their use as quickly as is practicable, recognising that at present it may not always be possible to eliminate their use altogether.

 

The Council aspires to becoming a pesticide and herbicide free borough (to the greatest extent possible), following an agreed three-year phase-out plan, and accordingly feels that a detailed chemical action plan should be developed that includes continued and public commitment to:

 

·       existing chemical reduction actions

·       exploring alternatives

·       communication

·       educating site users and managing expectations

·       establishing a working group involving partners including the Pesticides Action Network and the Guildford Environmental Forum to facilitate alternative approaches

·       Collaborating on the phasing-out of pesticide use with Surrey County Council and Waverley Borough Council (who have already adopted a similar policy)

·       Incorporating the Council’s chemical action plan in all relevant contracts.

 

To that end, the Council therefore

 

RESOLVES: That the Executive be requested to urgently consider and approve the proposed chemical reduction measures in 2022 set out in Appendix 6 to the report submitted to the Council and committing the Council to working with the County Council in developing a joint pesticide policy”.