Pesticide use by London Councils

Understanding how and where councils use pesticides is unfortunately not a straightforward undertaking. The overall picture is complex and ambiguities can arise due to the way that different local authorities report on their pesticide use. This can result in a degree of confusion for those not incredibly familiar with understanding urban pesticides.

The following guidance should help you to understand the nuances of your council’s pesticide use. However, if you still don’t fully understand the data, then you can email us on [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as possible. We may be able to help or suggest that you contact your local council directly to clarify.

The following guidance is arranged in the same order and under identical headings as the database:

Where does this council still use herbicides?

• While your local council might report that they are not using pesticides in a particular area, this may be because a higher authority (such as a district or county council) is applying pesticides in the area in question. Parks and green spaces are usually managed directly by the local council so if they say that they are not using pesticides in these spaces then it is usually safe to assume that these areas are indeed pesticide-free. However, it gets more complicated with areas such as roads, streets and housing estates which are more likely to fall within a council area but actually be maintained by another (usually higher) authority. In order to find out who might be spraying pesticides in your local area, it is always worth approaching your local council and asking which authority manages what type of land.
• Councils are legally required to remove invasive species such as Japanese knotweed. However, there are currently limited, non-chemical alternatives for invasive species removal. Where councils have answered ‘yes’ to using pesticides, in some cases this only refers to using pesticides for invasive species control. A good indication is the volume used since councils only applying pesticides to tackle invasive species are likely to be using far smaller amounts than those using them to maintain whole areas such as parks and pavements.

What volume of herbicides did the council or their contractor/s use in 2024?

• We asked councils to report the volume of pesticides they used in 2024 in either kilograms or litres. This is because some pesticides come as powders or solids and are therefore measured as a weight, while others come in liquid form and are thus reported in litres. While the majority of councils reported in litres, the UK government uses kilograms/tonnes.
• As they have reduced or ended their pesticide use, many councils have started using non-toxic herbicides, such as pelargonic and acetic acid, as part of their pesticide-free approach. If the data shows that your council is not using pesticides in any of the six types of land (parks, pavements etc) but has reported using a specific amount of pesticides under ‘volume’, then it is highly likely to mean that they are using pelargonic and/or acetic acid which are far less harmful and, therefore, considered to be acceptable alternatives to synthetic pesticides.
• Roughly 8% of councils did not provide a figure for the volume of pesticides they used in 2024. Whilst it is a legal requirement for all professional users of pesticides to keep spray records detailing their pesticide use, they do not have to make these records available to third parties. However, if such records are held then councils do, theoretically at least, have to release them under a Freedom of Information (FoI) request. In the case of the councils that did not provide volume figures, it is highly likely that they use contractors to undertake weed control and do not have access to details regarding the volume of pesticides used by their contractor.

How much money did the council spend on buying and applying herbicides in 2024?

Roughly a fifth of the councils that responded to our Freedom of Information requests declined to provide figures for how much money they spent on pesticides in 2024. There can be a number of reasons for this:

• Many councils employ contractors to maintain streets, pavements and housing estates. The council will pay a fixed price for the contract and let the contractors get on with the job. As such, it might not be possible for the council to get an itemised breakdown of the costs that relate specifically to the pesticide application.
• Some councils responded to say that they would not release the amount of money they spent due to reasons of ‘commercial confidentiality’.

Councils report on costs inconsistently. While we asked councils to include “…all costs, including but not limited to; the purchase of pesticide products, application equipment and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), staff training and costs associated to outsourcing to contractors” it appears that councils took different approaches to calculating their overall spend.

Does the council have a policy in place which aims to reduce the use of pesticides on land under their control?

In addition to a formal pesticide policy, we also include Council Motions and reports from council committee meetings. In fact, if a council was able to show any official, publicly available documentation stating its intention to reduce or end pesticide use then they will have a ‘yes’ in this category. Media statements, social media posts or other unofficial forms of communication were not included.