🌿 Weed control in the parish 🌿

Cornwall Council have contacted Town and Parish Council's across Cornwall to advise them that they will be starting weed control on the pavements/highways from May this year. It is proposed by Cornwall Council that some of this weed control will be carried out by using Glyphosate weed killer. Cornwall Council have given the Town and Parish Councils the option to opt out of this Cornwall Council service and take on this work themselves if they wish to carry out weed control without using Glyphosate with a deadline to notify them of their decision of 20th April 2026.

Feock Parish Council discussed this proposal at their Full Parish Council meeting last night and made the following resolution.

Feock Parish Council expresses an interest in opting out of the weed control service to enable them to deliver this themselves, however they request Cornwall Council grant them additional time and an extension to the deadline to respond, to enable the Parish Council to establish the methodology, operator/contractor availability, cost and more details of standards required to enable them to ensure they are able to deliver the service in line with the terms and conditions set out by Cornwall Council in the draft agreement provided. The Parish Council also have serious concerns about the possible carcinogenic effects of Glyphosate and the effect of is use on the public and the environment. 

We have today contacted Cornwall Council with our response and await their comments.

🌿 Update: 22nd April 2026

The Full Council of Cornwall Council met today (21st April 2026) and a motion was raised. There was lengthy discussion and whilst many spoke against the use of glyphosate, some spoke in favour - regardless of the position on the use of chemicals there was widespread condemnation and apologies regarding how our sector was treated in the process.

The Cornwall Council decision today was to:

1. Recognise that the decision to reintroduce chemical weed treatment using glyphosate represents a significant policy reversal with ecological, public health and democratic implications for communities across Cornwall.

2. Pause the commencement of chemical weed treatment currently scheduled for May 2026 until a meaningful public consultation process has been completed.

3. Recognise the wholly inadequate three week opt out window provided to parish and town councils which included Easter and commits to extending this to 30 days after the public consultation results have been published.

4. Give town/parish councils more clarity on the minimum required standards of the urban network.

5. Urgently review the financial terms of the opt-out scheme, which as currently structured are coercive: town and parish councils that exercise their democratic right to refuse glyphosate treatment are penalised by the simultaneous removal of wider targeted estate improvement works, and are offered funding covering only the chemical treatment element (£343.45 per km), leaving them to bear the full additional cost of alternative weed management, waste clearance and public liability insurance from their own precept. Decouple the opt-out from the loss of estate improvement funding.