Councillor Young spoke in support of the Petition: Make Guildford Pesticide-Free at GBC's Full Council meeting, December 7th. She welcomed the petition and thanked all those involved for bringing this critical environmental issue to Councilor's attention. Councillor Young then went on to request that the Lead Councilor for the Environment considers the following as part of his agreed actions:
1. The current Chemical Minimisation Policy, as part of its review, needs to include how we manage developer's and our own use of chemicals, glyphosate in particular, to clear large areas of land for our strategic and allocated sites, and in the creation of SANG (Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space) to enable the planting of wildflower seed.
2. The future detailed Chemical Action Plan needs to include how we prohibit this going forward.
3. The Lead Councilor must ensure that the draft Regulation 19 Development Management Policies are strong enough to support the proposed three year phasing out of chemicals.
The third point is particularly important as GGG had asked the Planning Policy team if the use of glyphosate could be prohibited as part of the proposed policy to protect biodiversity and natural habitats - currently this has not been included. Hopefully we will see this change as a result of this petition.
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