Overview

Weeds are controlled in Stockport for the following reasons:

  • appearance – weeds detract from the overall appearance of an area and collect litter
  • safety – weed growth can interfere with visibility for road users and obscure traffic signs. Weeds in road channels and gullies can prevent or slow down drainage. Their growth in footways may cause uneven slabs and broken tarmac
  • physical structure – weed growth can destroy paving surfaces, force apart kerbs and crack walls, so increasing maintenance costs

All adopted highway routes, including kerbs, gullies and footways, are treated during the spring and summer months. Additional targeted sprays are carried out to problem areas towards the end of the summer period where necessary.

The sprays are timed to coincide with the weed growth for maximum control. It can take approximately 2 weeks for the herbicide treatment to be fully effective. The weeds should then die off after this period.

We use a clean label contact spray to treat the adopted highway across the borough. This can be used in public areas. We use approximately 1,300 litres of herbicide for each borough-wide spray, and there are generally 2 treatments during the year.