Use of Glyphosate for Amenity Weed Killing and any Breaches of UK Pesticide Regulations
Case reference EIR2026/01496
Received 29 June 2026
Published 24 July 2026
Request
I am writing to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations about the use of glyphosate for amenity weed killing and any breaches of UK pesticide regulations.
The queries are as follows:
1. Do you or your landscape/ grounds maintenance contractors use glyphosate?
2. Have you or your contractors used any alternative products or methods to glyphosate for weed control?
If so what are they?
3. Has your council's policy regarding use of glyphosate to kill weeds changed in the last 5 years?
Are there any plans to change in the future?
4. Have your grounds maintenance teams or contractors been found to be in breach of Health & Safety Executive Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations 2020 or Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012 in the last 12 months?
If so, please outline:
The nature of the infringement of each incident and whether it led to of the following:
Improvement Notice
Fee for Intervention
Prosecution
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I would prefer to receive this information electronically, preferably as a data set in Excel and not as a PDF.
But if the information is not possible to put into a spreadsheet, please provide the information in its existing format, rather than rejecting this FOI request.
If the decision is made to withhold some of this data using exemptions in the Data Protection Act, please inform me of that fact and cite the exemptions used.
If some parts of this request are easier to answer than others, I would ask that you release the available data as soon as possible.
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Response
I am writing to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations about the use of glyphosate for amenity weed killing and any breaches of UK pesticide regulations.
The queries are as follows:
1. Do you or your landscape/ grounds maintenance contractors use glyphosate?
2. Have you or your contractors used any alternative products or methods to glyphosate for weed control?
If so what are they?
3. Has your council's policy regarding use of glyphosate to kill weeds changed in the last 5 years?
Are there any plans to change in the future?
4. Have your grounds maintenance teams or contractors been found to be in breach of Health & Safety Executive Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations 2020 or Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations 2012 in the last 12 months?
If so, please outline:
The nature of the infringement of each incident and whether it led to of the following:
Improvement Notice
Fee for Intervention
Prosecution
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would prefer to receive this information electronically, preferably as a data set in Excel and not as a PDF.
But if the information is not possible to put into a spreadsheet, please provide the information in its existing format, rather than rejecting this FOI request.
If the decision is made to withhold some of this data using exemptions in the Data Protection Act, please inform me of that fact and cite the exemptions used.
If some parts of this request are easier to answer than others, I would ask that you release the available data as soon as possible.
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Answer: Please see the attached EIR2026 01496 Response Spreadsheet, as requested.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.