PeterNatt
Well-Known Member
The Ragwort Control Act was passed in 2003 and was followed by a Code of
Practice in 2004 produced by DEFRA.
Landowners & occupiers of land are responsible for not allowing it to
spread. For roadside verges of motorways and trunk roads the Highways
Agency is responsible and for all other roads it is the local highway
authority, usually the county council. Alongside railways, Network Rail are
responsible and so on. There is a long list.
If you Google 'law on the control of ragwort' and got the link to a page on the
BHS website. They were the organisation that did all the lobbying to get a
bill considered and then passed. A firm called AgResource has prepared a
very informative couple of pages for them which are well worth reading.
Their tel no 01926 633099 is also available if you want to talk to someone
about it.
I don't know what has been done elsewhere but because I have contacts in our
local highway authority, I know that they did an asssessment of the county
road network to identify areas of high infestation of verges. Then last
year I just happened to be driving up my local main road and got caught
behind a large vehicle spraying the verge. I rang the council and found
that they were in fact spraying for ragwort and sure enough that section of
verge has not had any on it this year.
The biggest problem I think is that you are expected to find out the name of
the offending landowner before you can report the situation to DEFRA who are
responsible for the enforcement of the law. I know of one derelict field
which is full of it. I suspect this is owned by someone who died long ago
as it is beside an equally derelict house. I have no idea how that one
would be dealt with. I suppose an enforcement order could be posted and
then if nothing was done in a certain time, defra could send someone in to
spray it and send a bill to the executors of the dead person. But whether they would is another matter.
Hope this helps. At least you now know who you should be contacting.
Practice in 2004 produced by DEFRA.
Landowners & occupiers of land are responsible for not allowing it to
spread. For roadside verges of motorways and trunk roads the Highways
Agency is responsible and for all other roads it is the local highway
authority, usually the county council. Alongside railways, Network Rail are
responsible and so on. There is a long list.
If you Google 'law on the control of ragwort' and got the link to a page on the
BHS website. They were the organisation that did all the lobbying to get a
bill considered and then passed. A firm called AgResource has prepared a
very informative couple of pages for them which are well worth reading.
Their tel no 01926 633099 is also available if you want to talk to someone
about it.
I don't know what has been done elsewhere but because I have contacts in our
local highway authority, I know that they did an asssessment of the county
road network to identify areas of high infestation of verges. Then last
year I just happened to be driving up my local main road and got caught
behind a large vehicle spraying the verge. I rang the council and found
that they were in fact spraying for ragwort and sure enough that section of
verge has not had any on it this year.
The biggest problem I think is that you are expected to find out the name of
the offending landowner before you can report the situation to DEFRA who are
responsible for the enforcement of the law. I know of one derelict field
which is full of it. I suspect this is owned by someone who died long ago
as it is beside an equally derelict house. I have no idea how that one
would be dealt with. I suppose an enforcement order could be posted and
then if nothing was done in a certain time, defra could send someone in to
spray it and send a bill to the executors of the dead person. But whether they would is another matter.
Hope this helps. At least you now know who you should be contacting.