Camden Council makes plans to tackle ‘vigorous’ weeds

Weeds. Photograph: Wikicommons

It’s been a quintessentially British summer so far – we’ve had an election, and lots and lots of rain.

While the average Londoner might enjoy grumbling about the endless drizzle, some living beings that are thriving: Camden’s weeds.

According to the council, the “wet, warm spring resulted in vigorous grass and weed growth across the borough”.

“In March we had 107.8mm of rain compared with the average of 84.9mm, so it ranks in the top 20 per cent of the wettest March months,” a report on grounds maintenance revealed.

“April was even wetter! We had 111.4mm of rain, compared to the average of 71.9mm. It was the sixth wettest April of the last 189 years.”

The “vigorous” weed growth “has been compounded by our approach to the use of herbicide”, the Town Hall added, as “Camden has not used selective herbicide for over seven years”.

This is seen as a problem for the council because “the weeds grow very quickly and can make the lawns look long and messy”.

Readers will be pleased to know that the Town Hall is “looking to identify budgets to undertake manual turf improvements across the worst-affected housing sites in the autumn”.