Weed treatment

Weed treatment is carried out up to 3 times per year on council-managed land and highways across the borough. The programme is divided into two treatment categories: housing estates and highways.

It is extremely weather dependent. When weather is particularly bad (wet and windy weather), this will cause delays.

Housing estates

Treatment covers council-owned housing estates, including sheltered housing schemes and communal hard-surfaced areas. These locations are typically treated using hand-operated knapsack sprayers, which allow operatives to target weeds in smaller and more confined areas.

Highways

Treatment covers public roads, footways, pavements, and other highway-related hard surfaces. These areas are generally treated using specialist spray vehicles where access permits, enabling larger areas to be covered efficiently.

The weed treatment programme is highly dependent on suitable weather conditions. Periods of prolonged rain, strong winds, or other adverse weather can affect the effectiveness of herbicides and may result in delays to the treatment schedule.

Please note: Weed treatment is not an immediate solution. Following application, it can take 7 to 10 days for treated weeds to begin dying back, with visible results becoming apparent over the following weeks. Treatment schedules are completed on a rolling basis, and updates are provided as works progress across the borough. Weeds are not physically removed from the ground.

Residents should be aware that an area being marked as complete under the estates programme does not necessarily mean that the highways treatment within the same ward has also been completed, as these are separate programmes carried out using different methods and schedules.

Summer schedule

Reporting weeds

Our officers carry out inspections across the borough. However, if you wish to report weeds, you can do this online.