WHEN Labour announced that it had unilaterally banned the use of weedkiller (glyphosate) in Brighton and Hove in 2019, many warned that such a sudden ban might not be a good idea.

I have watched webcasts of the meetings at that time and my Conservative colleagues predicted exactly what has played out.

As we all now know, the then Labour council did not put in place any serious alternative plan for weeding the city's 975km of pavements. It was not at all clear how it would be able to fulfil its statutory duty to keep pavements clear.

When challenged, Labour issued a statement pointing to technological possibilities such as hot foam, infra-red zappers and other solutions.

But, none of these technology solutions has been delivered of course, either by Labour, or the weed-loving Greens which inherited the problem when Labour collapsed in mid-2020.

The Liberal Democrats propose "high temperature water jets" in a letter to The Argus (Great solution to problem of the overgrown weeds, August 22) but the city is still playing catch-up and is on the back foot.

The latest news issued from the council was that it is still waiting on strimmers to arrive from France to help the three seasonal manual weeders that it has employed.

It is embarrassing how little planning has occurred for such a major and drastic policy change. Labour and the Greens have shown themselves to be incapable of managing basic city services, in this case, weeding the pavements. Some Conservative common sense is needed to get this council back on track.

Cllr Robert Nemeth

Conservative Group spokesman on environment, transport and sustainability