Community Weeding Scheme
To support the reduction of glyphosate on local streets by taking a wholly manual/mechanical approach to weeding, we're also introducing a volunteer-based community weeding scheme for residents living in trial area one.
Diversity of wild plants is key to supporting a wide variety of insects and other wildlife, and the reduced use of chemicals on streets will allow wild plants the chance to flower and contribute to local biodiversity.
We hope to work with residents to focus on encouraging biodiversity while at the same time identifying and removing plants that could damage walls and pavements, cause trip/slip or accessibility hazards, or are liable to adversely affect drainage.
Why we need to control some street weeds
Not all of the wild plants that grow on our pavements are always beneficial. Some, if left to grow long enough, could create trip hazards leading to potential injury.
Others, particularly plants like ivy or self-seeding trees such as sycamore, could cause damage to walls and pavements. Plants growing in the kerb channels can lead to a build-up of dirt and prevent effective drainage of rainwater.
While many wild plants can be tolerated as they’re unlikely to create any problems, we must be mindful of those that could, and remove them when necessary.
How the scheme works
Volunteers who sign up to the scheme will help to support our own manual/mechanical weeding work by keeping an eye out for problematic plants and removing them.
While mechanical sweeping will still take place in the kerb channels to ensure they’re kept clean, manual sweepers won’t remove wild plants from the pavement. This will ensure that many plants will be allowed to thrive and flower.
Advice and guidance
When you sign up to the scheme, you will receive guidance to support you to identify and remove problematic street weeds, as well as to identify plants that should not be removed.
We can also supply disposable gloves and ongoing advice and support via the dedicated email address below.
Contact
If you want to discuss the scheme in more detail before signing up, email weedingtrialswbc@wandsworth.gov.uk and we’ll be in touch.