St Ives Town Council wishes to provide an update on the use of glyphosate following communications from Cornwall Council on this issue in March 2026.
A significant step-change in policy was announced to town and parish councils at very short notice, after local council budgets and contracts had been finalised and without proper community engagement.
The Town Council has adopted the same policy approach for over a decade. That is, a mixed and risk-based approach to different types of land and public spaces, as follows:
- Street cleaners in the town centre carry out regular and routine mechanical weed removal
- Annual contracts for the cutting and management of the parish footpaths and the SW Coastpath are let using manual methods and with no chemical treatments
- Herbicides are not used in parks, gardens and green spaces
- The planned devolution of the verges across the parish will be managed with mechanical cutting
- A highly targeted herbicide treatment is directly applied to weeds on roads and pavement surfaces outside the town centre street cleaning area, only twice a year.
- Any invasive species, for example knotweed are subject to a targeted herbicide treatment regime.
What has changed, since the last contract, is that the Health and Safety Executive is carrying out a full review of the use of herbicides and is due to report in December 2026.
On this basis , it was agreed by our Community and Environment Committee in February 2026 to let the current contract for the treatment of weeds, whilst the advice of the Government Health and Safety Executive was awaited, but conditional on a full review into alternative options for the following financial year.
When the Cornwall Council announcement was made, the Council had already entered into a contract with the same contractor used over the last 10 years. Cornwall Council further advice was that, in this circumstance, Councils should continue to honour their contracts.
This was further reviewed by the Council in June 2026, and as there was a legally binding contract in place, the current contract would to continue, pending the outcome of the review by the HSE which is due for publication in December 2026.
The Council will then review its approach on the basis of legal and professional guidance.
We believe that this tiered approach to our public realm strikes a careful balance between spaces for people and nature, with the aim of minimising as far as possible, the use of chemical treatments for reasons of highway management and safety and eradicating invasive species.
The Council will be undertaking a comprehensive review of options and seek community views, once the advice of the HSE has been received.
