I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information.

1. Does the council use any pesticides to maintain green areas? If it used to, but has now stopped, when did it stop using them?
Yes

2. Please provide the following information on amenity pesticide usage, if the council uses pesticides, or used to in the past 5 years.
a) Does the council use Glyphosate? Yes
b) Annual quantities of Glyphosate used over the past 5 years. Please provide the quantities for each year separately and include the total amount used both by the council internally and externally through contractors.
• Cleaner&Greener usage -Approximate Glyphosate use outlined below is carried out by external contractors
2019 - 217L
2020 - 659L
2021 - 646L
2022 - 517L
2023 - 375L
• Countryside Service usage
2019 - 1200ml of Roundup Proactive at 360g/l of glyphosate
2020 - 6750ml of Roundup Proactive at 360g/l of glyphosate
2021 - 7050ml of Roundup Proactive at 360g/l of glyphosate
2022 - 8500ml of Roundup Proactive at 360g/l of glyphosate
2023 – 1500ml of Roundup Proactive at 360g/l of glyphosate & 6200ml of Roundup ProVantage at 480g/l of glyphosate
Total 25Lt of Roundup Proactive 360 & 6.2Lt of Roundup ProVantage 480, with total use of 11,976 grams of glyphosate.
c) Where is Glyphosate used, i.e., parks, play areas, highway verges and roads, pavements, tree bases, estate-based green spaces, etc.
• Cleaner&Greener: Where weeds are present on hard surfaces within play areas, hard surfaces and around obstacles on the adopted highway. On invasive or persistent weeds within public open spaces.
• Countryside Service: Country Parks, Nature Reserves, and SANG sites.

3. How much has the council spent on purchasing and spraying amenity pesticides over the past 5 years? Please include staff costs of people employed to undertake this (either contractors or council staff).
We do not hold a record of this information

4. If the council has stopped using pesticides, how much has been spent on maintaining green spaces over the last five years, and what method is used (i.e., no control, manual weeding, mowing and hand pulling, propane/flame gun, etc.) Please include staff costs of people employed to undertake this (either contractors or council staff).
Not applicable

5. If the council has stopped spraying, has it had any complaints for not well-maintained green spaces (i.e., invasive and pernicious weeds) in the past 5 years and how many? Please provide the number of complaints for each year separately. Please provide the above in a CSV format.
Not applicable

6. Has the council made any pledge to reduce or stop the usage of pesticides and if so, what strategies does the council have in place to reduce/stop the use of these pesticides? Please provide details on the action plan including dates and costings where possible.
• Cleaner&Greener: There is currently no pledge in place to reduce or stop the usage of pesticides. The following actions are taken to help minimise its use: Our contractors will not carry out spraying when it is raining or windy to help prevent the unnecessary spread of herbicides. Only spot spraying is carried out to reduce the amount of glyphosate used. Suitably trained and qualified contractors undertaking weed spraying to ensure works carried out are safe and effective. Please also see attached file for method statement.
• The Countryside Service examines the use of pesticide when we use them. We judge to see if we can do it another way, use a different product, or reduce the amount we use.