Council Offers Residents Glyphosate Opt Out

Pull up weeds yourself if you don't want chemical used on your street

The council says it is following guidance which makes the spraying safe. Picture: Change.org

July 25, 2025

Hounslow Council has responded to concerns being raised about its resumption of the use of Glyphosate.

The controversial weedkiller has not been widely employed in the borough since 2019, but it was proving increasingly difficult and expensive to manually remove weeds from streets across the borough. It has remained in use for the removal of invasive plants such as Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed.

The council says that non-chemical alternatives have proved ineffective and that the growth of weeds risked undermining some road surfaces. The council doesn’t dispute the toxicity of Glyphosate but says it can be safely used by trained operatives following guidance from the Health & Safety Executive.

Earlier this month the council confirmed a schedule of works for spraying every street across the borough a move which received cross party support with the Conservatives quoting figures which showed that manual removal was over 100 times more expensive than chemical methods

However, the resumption of the use of Glyphosate has received some push back from local environmental groups including Air Quality Brentford. It says, "For 5 years the Council has avoided the use of Glyphosate as part of their commitment to being the greenest and cleanest borough in London. In line with good environmental practice, they cleared the weeds manually without the use of chemicals.

"In 2025 however the Council will be using Glyphosate again to kill weeds on our pavements and roads and we urge them to change their mind. There is much research about Glyphosate killing bees and insects, and being harmful to human health, including causing cancer. Many residents are weeding streets themselves to avoid the use of this chemical.

"We are asking London Borough of Hounslow not to use Glyphosate to kill weeds on our pavements and roads, except for persistent species like Japanese Knotweed as required.”

It has launched a petition which, at the time of writing, had over 300 signatures

Hounslow Council has confirmed that, while residents cannot specifically opt their street out of the spraying programme, the operatives will not spray where there are no weeds present. All roads in the borough are on the spraying list and, two weeks after the initial spaying, the roads in each ward will be inspected and the top 20 roads per ward will be prioritised for attendance by a dedicated clearance team.

Cllr Katherine Dunne, portfolio holder for Environment, Climate Change and Transport, said recently “We will be doing two sprays with Glyphosate, keeping it to the minimum. If any residents feel very strongly about not having it sprayed on your street, if you are prepared to get together with your neighbours and weed it yourself, we will not spray that street.”

She added that if there were particular planted areas or verges that anyone wanted not to be sprayed, they could ask Hounslow Highways not to use the chemical at these locations.