A sharp rise in pet injuries from the city’s weed-strewn verges and pavements has been reported by veterinary clinics in Brighton & Hove - providing another indication that the council needs to reconsider its policies on weeding.

The injuries are being caused by seeds and spears from the barley grass that are now sprouting from the city’s un-weeded pavements and verges.  These seeds have been lodging into animals’ paws and requiring a vets’ procedure to remove them, causing distress to animals and big bills for owners. 

In my ward of Woodingdean, a resident told the story this week of their ordeal, after their puppy Lily suffered an injured paw from barley grass growing on uncut verges and pavements, which required two operations to remove.

The barley grass spear went straight through the puppy’s paw and had to be surgically removed at the vets.  After the dog was still in distress some weeks later, a second operation was required to remove a barley grass seed which had been deeply embedded.  The owner faced hundred of pounds of vet bills for the two procedures and now has to put ‘shoes’ on Lily the dog when it is taken out on Brighton & Hove’s pavements to avoid barley grass seeds in future.

Lily the dog’s story is not an isolated incident in Brighton & Hove.  Since Labour instantaneously banned the use of weedkiller on pavements in the city in 2019 (without any alternative plan in place to weed the pavements in place), there has been a big increase in injuries to pets.   The vet’s surgery that treated Lily the dog said that their practice is now treating 3-5 dogs a day for similar issues, suggesting many other Brighton & Hove hove pet owners are facing these big bills.

This year the problems have escalated, as not only are the pavements not being weeded due to the weedkiller ban, but the verges are also being cut less:  Under a Green/Labour ‘trial policy’, verge cuttings are being reduced from 11 times a year to 6 times a year, meaning many verges in residential areas have grown thick with weeds.

In the uncut verges, barley grass is not the only risk the health of pets – or indeed residents - as reports of insect bites have begun to come in from Hove Park.  A resident in Shirley Drive, another area where the verges haven’t been cut, got bitten by a tick while waiting for a bus.  The area around the bus stop bench had been so overgrown that he was sitting waiting for the bus in a jungle of weeds.

At the Council meeting last week Councillor Carol Theobald asked when the Council’s trial policy of not cutting verges would end and whether residents would be given an opportunity to provide feedback on the trial at the end of the process.  She reminded the council that it was under a statutory duty to keep the pavements clear.

The Green/Labour Council gave no time period for which this trial would conclude and no indication that public comments would be considered.  With the Council not taking evidence itself, the Conservatives will make sure residents’ voices are heard at this council.  I have launched a survey to gather residents experiences and concerns at tinyurl.com/brightonweeds and encourage residents to get in touch and fill it in.

In areas such as my ward of Woodingdean, the residents need a proactive council that is on top of keeping pavements clear.  Woodingdean is surrounded by farmland including barley fields which means both the wind and the birds deposit barley grass seeds all over the place.  This means the council needs to be on top of the issue all round to keep pavements clear but under its current policies there is little hope of this.

At last week’s Full Council meeting Cllr Robert Nemeth asked a question to the Leader of the Council about the administration’s weeding policies in light of the huge weeding backlog and the fact that only 3 members of council staff are currently manually weeding the city’s streets.

Cllr Nemeth asked whether the Leader of the Council would, rather than continuing to pretend that these issues can be fixed under his current policies, instead simply state openly that there is no chance whatsoever of having weed-free pavements under the Greens and Labour.  It is obvious to everyone that 3 people are not enough to manually weed the 975km of Brighton and Hove City Council pavements.

Only a new council with different policies will be able to get a grip on this situation, which is causing so many problems for residents and their pets.