In December of last year, Guildford Borough joined over 60 towns, cities and boroughs in the UK that have now signed up to become pesticide-free. This means in practice that Guildford Borough Council has committed to phasing out the use of pesticides within the urban and green spaces that they manage within 3 years. This will apply in all but certain exceptional cases, such as the control of certain invasive species where no other option can be identified.
The proposals came after a petition by concerned residents, part of Guildford Environmental Forum (GEF)*, together with the national campaign group Pesticide Action Network, which requested the Council to make Guildford pesticide-free.
Having successfully gathered the necessary 500 local signatures, local residents and GEF Members Frances Rollin and Helen Harris, as well as Nick Mole from Pesticide Action Network spoke to Guildford’s Councillors about why they believe pesticides are an unnecessarily harmful and outdated way to manage “weeds”, before a unanimous vote in favour of going pesticide-free on December 7th 2021.
Helen Harris, who leads the biodiversity group at Guildford Environmental Forum said:
“We are so happy with this decision. Pesticide use is unjustifiable and outdated in the face of the ecological crisis we are facing. Pesticides are really damaging both for nature and for human health and so many residents have expressed real concern about seeing them sprayed around our streets and green spaces.
It was great to see so many of our councillors speaking in support of going pesticide-free. I would like to thank Pesticide Action Network for their help as well as each and every person who supported our petition! We look forward to working with our council to put this into practice.”
The Lead Councillor for Environment, Councillor James Steel, said: “I fully support stopping chemical use, including pesticides. I have to thank our residents who started and signed the petition. This is what democracy looks like and I am proud to have played a part in this.”
Implementation of this commitment can now get underway: this will involve setting up a working group to develop the strategy, assess potential environmental impacts of alternatives and consult with other agencies like the Forestry Commission, the Plant Health Agency and Natural England and the Wildlife Trusts as well as Surrey County Council. GEF also hopes to bring other local landowners and managers on board to extend the pesticide-free commitment.
* Guildford Environmental Forum is a voluntary environmental membership group with over 350 members based in Guildford and took part in Surrey Wildlife Trust’s pilot Empowering Communities programme, receiving training, advice and support from the Trust.