We've been struggling to talk to councillors and officers about our concerns around the use of pesticides in parks, so we have submitted a statement to the Culture and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Commission and we will be attending their meeting next week, on Monday 4th November at 5:30 pm at City Hall. Here's our statement in full:
"Leicester Friends of the Earth have been discussing the council's use of chemical pesticides in the parks with officers and councillors for the past three years. After trialling a different product last year, the council returned to using glyphosate in parks this year, albeit at a lower concentration than previously used. The council's target for pesticide use in the Biodiversity Action Plan is to reduce it by 50% by 2030. We think that target is disappointingly unambitious when other local authorities have already moved away from chemical pesticides altogether. The Pesticide Action Network provide detailed information for local authorities on how to go pesticide free on their website.
The areas that are sprayed in the parks do seem to have been reduced in the last couple of years - we can no longer see any sign of spraying around tree bases in parks, for example, which is an improvement. (Tree bases on road verges are still being sprayed, sadly.) But we are still seeing signs of spraying around and within children's play areas, which is concerning when it is known that children are more vulnerable to the effects of chemical pesticides than adults. I notice this in my local park in Evington, which makes me nervous about taking my nephew there. Like all toddlers, he likes to play with the soil and I spend a lot of time carrying him away from the sprayed, dead grass around the edges of the patches of woodchip and under the fence. Many people will not recognise what this dead grass means, so they will not be able to protect their children from being exposed to the pesticide residues there.
We are concerned about the use of any chemical pesticides, and glyphosate in particular, for a number of reasons. There have been several studies linking glyphosate to cancers in people, particularly non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The research was collated in a meta-analysis published in the academic journal Mutation Research in 2019. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of pesticides, because their skin absorbs chemicals more easily and because they are more likely to be playing on the ground. The evidence for the ill-effects of glyphosate on bees and other wildlife has also been mounting over the last few years. It is now known that glyphosate harms bees’ digestive systems, for example, affecting their ability to absorb food, and also damages the ability of wild bees to regulate the temperature of their colonies. When insect populations are falling so alarmingly, we do not believe we should be doing anything to make the situation worse.
Leicester has long claimed to be the UK's first environment city, but on this issue, it is clear that we are not taking the lead. In fact, we are falling far behind other towns and cities."
After we've read the statement, the members of the committee will discuss and we might be given the opportunity to ask a follow-up question, depending on the chair. We are preparing for this and will make sure we have some research to share at our fingertips.
If you're free next Monday, we'd love to have more people observing this meeting. Councillors will notice if people care enough about the issue to come to the meeting. You'll only be able to watch and listen, but just being there will make a difference. This item is first on the agenda and we can leave afterwards, so you'd probably only need to stay for 30 minutes. Please come if you can! We'll meet outside City Hall on Charles Street at 5:15 pm and go in together.
