Kingston Council began its 2026 weed spray programme last month (June), and despite agreeing to lower its glysophate spray count down from two to one last year, residents have voiced their concerns.

According to Councillor Mark Durrant, an annual borough wide spray is undertaken to manage weed growth on areas of public highway.

In a post on Facebook, he said: "We [the council] do this while maintaining the council's commitment to minimise the amount of herbicides in use, due to concerns over impact on human health and the natural environment.

"The programme will take approximately 4 weeks to complete, subject to weather conditions. On the council's housing states, separate spraying arrangements began on 15th May and are expected to take six weeks to complete.

"You may have noticed increased weed growth in the last few weeks. The spraying requires some presence of weeds to be effective. The weeds are expected to begin dying back in the weeks following treatment at which time our street cleansing teams will then carry out manual removal as needed."

Cllr Olly Wehring added: "About seven years ago, Kingston council implemented a policy to reduce its use of glysophate - a chemical used to kill weeds - after it was deemed to be carcinogenic.

"As a result, two sprays per year became one.

"We'll continue to investigate non-glysophate interventions, most of which, at the moment, are still quite expensive."

However, some local residents have complained about how the council's weed programme is affecting their dogs, with one claiming that they had to take their dog to the vet to remove grass seeds from him.

The resident said: "Kingston Council is delinquent in their management of weeds and the explosion of the grass and seed this year is ridiculous.

"This could have all been avoided by treating weeds before they went into seed (rather than the council's approach to spray the weeds after they have died!)

"I'm considering group legal action against Kingston Council. I want to find out how many people have been affected and if we can build a legal case to get reimbursed.

"All we want are clean streets, our bins emptied and to feel safe on our neighbourhood but it appears they cannot get the basics right."

Another local resident told Nub News about his concerns regarding the human impact that the glyspophate spray can have. He reported that he spotted an operator spraying the glysophate last week without wearing any PPE.

The resident added: "There are other ways to remove grass and weeds from pavements. A combination of the road sweeps - who are given hoes, Glendale the green spaces contractor, and residents themselves playing their part.

"The council has reduced pavement spraying from four to one spray, but they haven't recognised the risks to nature and humans.

"The lack of protection for the spraying teams is quite something to behold."

A Kingston Council spokesperson told Nub News: "The council has significantly reduced the amount of herbicide used on Kingston's streets since 2019. This is in response to concerns regarding the impact of herbicides on human health and the natural environment, while balancing the need to maintain our streets for all residents.

"In 2021, the council conducted extensive trials to find alternatives that would allow it to phase out herbicide use altogether, including non-treatment, manual removal and hot foam treatment. All three options were not as effective and the hot foam treatment was expensive and disruptive.

"The one remaining spray takes place in June each year. This is because the herbicide used is a contact treatment and the timing of the spray ensures sufficient weed growth prior to treatment while minimising weed regrowth later in the year. Once applied, weeds begin to die over the following weeks and they are then manually removed by the street cleaning teams.

!The council continues to review alternative weed removal methods including greener and more carbon efficient equipment that will allow it to phase out herbicides altogether while meeting our obligation to maintain safe and tidy streets."