Ref:

Ward Weed Treatment Assessment (2023 Weed Pilot)

Please State your Ward: Micklegate (Cllr Kilbane)

Q1. Did you undertake any weed control activities in your ward (outside of the sprays undertaken by the Council or it’s weed contractor)?

Yes

If yes, what activities were undertaken? We spent 3 hours clearing the paths around Scarcroft Green.

Q2. How do you rate the quality of weed spraying in your ward? (please tick)

Very Good
Good
Average
Poor	X
Very Poor

Please outline below why you have made the assessment you have

Back alleys, especially gated ones, do not get sprayed. Pavement sprays are not directed carefully and sometimes appear to be quite random.

Q3. Have any issues been expressed to you by local residents regarding weeds? (please identify affected streets/areas)

Numerous residents have complained about weed growth. In particular the following streets were raised as an issue

· Fenwick St

· Alley between Trafalgar and Kensington Streets

· Alley between Curzon and Knavesmire Crescent

· Back alleys both sides Lower Ebor St

· Charlton St

Q4. Are there any observations you wish to make about the trial in 2023 in your ward?

This is a tricky problem to solve. Many residents do not mind the weeds, yet it greatly upsets others. We need to keep on top of the problem to prevent future costs with pavement repairs, yet we must also phase out glyphosate without delay. In our experience more residents are concerned about the use of glyphosate than the predominance of weeds.

Ward Weed Treatment Assessment (2023 Weed Pilot)

Please State your Ward – Holgate (Cllr Taylor)

Q1. Did you undertake any weed control activities in your ward (outside of the sprays undertaken by the Council or it’s weed contractor)?

Yes

If yes, what activities were undertaken? I’m reading this question to mean extra weed control in the Ward outside of CYC services, rather than me personally, so:

- Residents within the St Pauls “area” of the Ward undertook some manual weed control, as per their total opt out of all sprays last year following the community-led survey. This area is effectively everywhere north of Holgate Road between its junctions with Wilton Rise and St Pauls Church.

- Ward Councillors, with the help of a few residents, undertook some manual weed control within the Leeman Road “island” area. This is the densely populated terraced estate between Leeman Road, Water End, and the Rise Ouse. This was in response to most of the non-tarmacked alley ways becoming inaccessible, and overgrowth across many streets.

Q2. How do you rate the quality of weed spraying in your ward? (please tick)

Very Good
Good
Average
Poor
Very Poor	X

Please outline below why you have made the assessment you have:

I have no confidence in the contractor to do what they are supposed to be paid to do.
I have little confidence in the Council’s ability - or even appetite - to manage the contractor.
I have used strong language here because I feel like what I’m about to say I’ve said before, and we don’t seem to get any further.
It feels completely futile raising concerns with the Council whenever it’s clear that the contractor is running behind, or has done the job but poorly, or not done the job at all.
There is no regular point of contact, the replies we get are usually slow, full of ifs, buts, and maybes - almost as if we are beholden to the contractor and not the other way around! It’s not good enough and ends up wasting loads more time through the chasing that’s created.
The bottom line is we are paying somebody, who is doing this presumably to make some form of profit, with public money, and they are reliably unreliable. We should be all over them, and anybody else profiteering from public service provision, whenever problems arise. In fact, I bet the contractor makes much more money off the contract than we think – their margins will naturally be higher because they’re not doing what they’re being paid to do.
If this renders outsourcing unviable then so be it. The financial pressures that the Council are under are a challenge but also a huge opportunity to justify working differently and trying something new; outside of the limited question of “how many sprays?”

Q3. Have any issues been expressed to you by local residents regarding weeds? (please identify affected streets/areas)

We deliberately kept certain parts of the Ward - the Leeman Road area, the Lindsey Avenue / Sowerby Road area, and either side of upper Poppleton Road - at the maximum three sprays due to knowing, from experience, that these are the places where weed growth is most aggressive and where, every single year, we have the same problems of either no or weak weed control. Yet, once again, it is these areas where I have received feedback - all negative - about the service.

Q4. Are there any observations you wish to make about the trial in 2023 in your ward?

Interestingly, I have received zero complaints about weed control in areas where we have reduced or completely removed sprays.
We need to phase out glyphosate use as much as we can, wherever we can. In some areas this could be zero sprays, in many others, fewer. However, the environmental / toxicity issue needs completely separating out away from the question about control - the Council has previously, disingenuously, merged these two considerations.
Whatever different method(s) are hopefully used, the Council still needs to get a proper hold on the areas it knows have recurring problems with weed growth.
The final thing to say would be that if this survey leads to no meaningful change or credible response then, with respect, it'll be the last time I fill one in. Officers are extremely busy but so too are we. I have been raising issues about both poor control reliability and environmental concerns since 2019. The only thing that has changed is a so-called “pilot” allowing us to reduce sprays – nothing serious about different methods (not just of application but also organisation and deployment), nothing about contract management, nothing about better and faster responses to issues when they arise, or a proper point of contact.

Ward Weed Treatment Assessment (2023 Weed Pilot)

Please State your Ward – Holgate (Cllr Steels-Walshaw)

Q1. Did you undertake any weed control activities in your ward (outside of the sprays undertaken by the Council or it’s weed contractor)?

Yes

If yes, what activities were undertaken? I’m reading this question to mean extra weed control in the Ward outside of CYC services, rather than me personally, so:

Councillors, with the help of a few residents, undertook some manual weed control within the Leeman Road area around Stamford Street East. This is the densely populated terraced estate around Leeman Road, Water End. This was in response to most of the non-tarmacked alley ways becoming inaccessible, and overgrowth across many streets and resident concerns about access.

Q2. How do you rate the quality of weed spraying in your ward? (please tick)

Very Good
Good
Average
Poor
Very Poor	X

Please outline below why you have made the assessment you have:

As a ward Councillor I have had many ongoing complaints around the weed control particularly in the gated areas of the Leeman Road Alleys.

The main clearance that we did took place the week after they alleys were meant to have been sprayed and there was no evidence of many of the weeds having been sprayed. The weeds were very dense and thick.

When I have raised concerns about the state of the weeds and the overgrown areas there has not been concrete answers given on how this can be improved or when it can be done to a better standard. There has been a lot of time spent on chasing up responses that have been that the contractor has not got round to it or it has already been done.

There has been a struggle to see what if any work the contractor has actually done and little clarification on what has been done when trying to ascertain this.

Q3. Have any issues been expressed to you by local residents regarding weeds? (please identify affected streets/areas)

Yes, by residents in Leeman Road, Lindsey Avenue, Poppleton Road, Chatsworth Terrace.

Residents have repeatedly requested when the sprays will be happening and if they have been done.

Q4. Are there any observations you wish to make about the trial in 2023 in your ward?

We need a clear timetable and timings for sprays and which areas are going to receive which service. We need active and timely responses to residents concerns about weeds and what is taking place in the areas in the ward.

Active discussions need to take place with contractors/officers and residents about glyphosate and what the options are around this and the implications for using it.

I really hope that this survey will lead to some improvements for people in the ward and some positive actioned answers that we can pass onto people.

Ward Weed Treatment Assessment (2023 Weed Pilot)

Please State your Ward – Copmanthorpe (Cllr Steward)

The feedback from Copmanthorpe is that generally people would rather have three sprays than two. What is the financial saving of two sprays in Copmanthorpe rather than three? Would it be possible that the village could have two sprays but the monetary difference to use more locally? I appreciate you are unlikely to be able to say yes, but hopefully could ask about the principle.