Leicester's parks go glyphosate-free!

We were recently very excited to hear that the City Council have decided to stop using glyphosate in parks and green spaces from January 2023!

As you know if you've been following us, we have been campaigning for the city’s parks to go pesticide-free since 2021. We contacted the City Council to express our concerns about the use of this poison and pointed out that exposure to pesticides has been linked to many health issues, including cancers, Alzheimer’s and infertility. We also shared research showing that glyphosate harms bees’ digestive systems and damages their ability to keep their colonies cool, which can be devastating in our increasingly hot summers.

We spent several months on the streets explaining our concerns to the public and gathering support. In July, we presented a petition of 1057 signatures asking the City Council to stop using pesticides in parks and green spaces. We then attended the Neighbourhoods Services Scrutiny Commission meeting in August and asked the councillors and officers to reconsider their spraying policy.

The City Council have now responded to the petition, confirming that they will stop using glyphosate in parks and green spaces from January 2023, on a trial basis. They are working with Pesticide Action Network to develop a pesticide action plan. 

We would like to thank Adam Clarke and the council officers in the parks department for listening to our concerns. The vast majority of people we spoke to during our campaign were opposed to the use of pesticides in the city. Many parents in particular will be relieved that they don’t have to avoid sprayed areas when taking their children to the park.

Leicester has always rightly been proud of its status as the UK’s First Environment City and the Biodiversity Action Plan states that the Council aim to 'make sure that local biodiversity thrives'. We congratulate the Council on taking an important step towards that aim. We hope that they will take this opportunity to leave more wild edges in the city’s green spaces. There has been a catastrophic decline in insect and wild plant species in the UK, so we need to make space for nature in cities. We also hope that they will reconsider the use of glyphosate in other places, like school grounds and pavements.

This story was covered by the BBC and the Leicester Mercury. We celebrated the campaign win at our September meeting with tea and cookies!