PROJECT EXAMPLE: leicestershire county council
Controlling a range of Invasive Non-Native Species (inns) including japanese knotweed and some noxious weeds for LCC
Leicestershire is home to nearly 1 million people, covering 804m2. A large portion of the north-west of the county forms part of the National Forest area and the county is home to the geographical centre of England, which is land at Lindley Hall Farm. Meriden had been considered the traditional centre for over 500 years.
82% of the County is classed as rural and 18% is rural town.
Japanese Knotweed Ltd’s (JKL) Specialist Amenity Advisor, Darren Greatbatch (MBPR, BASIS, IOSH, CSJK) had a long-serving relationship with Leicestershire County Council (LCC) when they contacted him for advice on the use of Glyphosate within the county. Darren provided over 20 hours free consultancy for LCC, explaining why they should continue to treat noxious weeds, such as Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam, Giant hogweed, etc. with Glyphosate.
The treatment and control of the noxious weeds within the County was initially provided through an Amenity Control Tender. Through our expert consultation and our obvious expert knowledge across a spectrum of noxious weeds, LCC published a tender for a one-year contract for the treatment and control of noxious weeds within the County, which was across 149 sites of which some were SSSI, and some were adjacent to water courses, meaning an AquaHerb (AqHb) licence was required for spraying herbicide in those locations.
We surveyed each site, discovering multiple noxious weeds, including Giant hogweed, Himalayan balsam, Common ragwort, Horsetail, Hemlock, and Japanese knotweed. Each site now has what3word locations, enabling an seamless identification of the noxious weed location(s).
LCC have a service provision charter whereby on receipt of a service request within the County, they must respond within 10 days. For all new sites, we were onsite within 48 hours, surveying the site whilst providing the first herbicide treatment, enabling LCC to fulfil their service charter.
In 2022 LCC’s tender separated out the noxious and amenity weeds. Noxious weeds will have a contract duration of 3 years, whilst Amenity will be just 1 year.
JKL’s Area Technicians undertake herbicide application works and are NPTC PA1, PA6, PA6AW qualified and PCA Qualified Technicians in Japanese knotweed. For each visit, LCC automatically receives an electronic Service Visit Record, generated by our Area Technician, detailing work undertaken, progress of treatment and a picture of the treatment area.
Herbicide works are undertaken to ensure maximum damage to the target plant while avoiding damage to any non-target plants. Folia Spraying, Stem Injection and Leaf Wiping are all methods of treatment undertaken to treat invasive plants. Operational works are set-up, managed and controlled via the company’s Contracts Team and the Operational teams.