Amenity Pesticide Use

The request was successful.

Dear South Ayrshire Council,

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information.

1. Please provide the following information on amenity pesticide usage:
a. A list of the pesticides you use (brand name, and active ingredient), this should include insecticides, fungicides, molluscicides and herbicides.
b. The COSHH assessment form for each of the pesticides you use.
c. Where these chemicals are used, i.e parks, road verges, pavements, tree bases etc.
d. Annual quantities of each pesticide used over the past 5 years. Please include the total amount of each used both by the council internally and externally through contractors.
e. Please also confirm the concentrations of each pesticide used at application.

2. What strategies does the council have in place to reduce the use of these pesticides? Please provide detail on these efforts including dates and costings where possible.

3. How much has the council spent on purchasing and spraying amenity pesticides over the past 5 years? Please include staff costs of people employed to undertake this (either contractors or council staff), personal protective equipment, safety training, spray equipment, hazard signs, etc.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested above for any reason, I would be grateful for any further advice or assistance as to how I can refine my request. If any of this information is already in the public domain, please can you direct me to it, with page references and URLs as necessary.

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or phone and I will be very happy to clarify what I am asking for and discuss the request.

Yours faithfully,

Kate Basley

FOI,, South Ayrshire Council

Good morning

Thank you for your email.

We are obliged under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 to provide any recorded information we hold (subject to exceptions) as quickly as possible and in all cases within 20 working days.

We will respond as soon as possible.

For more information on the Regulations and to use the response calculator, please visit http://www.itspublicknowledge.info

Kind regards

FOI Team | Information Governance | Chief Executive’s Office | [email address] |Tel: 01292 612223 |South Ayrshire Council | County Buildings, Wellington Square, Ayr, KA7 1DR | www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk

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FOI,, South Ayrshire Council

5 Attachments

Good morning

 

Thank you for your recent enquiry which was given the above reference
number.

 

A.

Round Up Pro Vantage – Glyphosate

Trustee Amenity – Glyphosate

Chikara – flazasulfuron

ICade – aminopyralid & triclopyr

Junction - florasulam and 2,4-D

 

B. See attached forms

 

C. Grass edges, gravel paths, some shrub/rose borders, tree circles,
public footpaths/kerb edges, tree stumps, sports pitches, controls of
mares tail/Japanese knotweed (ICade)

 

D

Round Up Pro Vantage –

2016 - 1096ltrs – contractor

2016 – 800ltrs - SAC

2017 – 945ltrs – contractor

2017 – 800ltrs – SAC

2018 – 1131ltrs - contractor

2019 – 921ltrs – contractor

2020 – 290ltrs - contractor

2020 – 155ltrs to date - SAC

 

Trustee Amenity –

2017 – 100ltrs - SAC

2018 –  900ltrs - SAC

2019 – 1130ltrs – SAC

2020 – 354ltrs - contractor

2020 – 220ltrs to date - SAC

 

Chikara –

2016 – 4500 grams – SAC

2017 – 5850 grams – SAC

2018 – 7425 grams – SAC

2019 – 6600 grams – SAC

2020 – 3300 grams - SAC

 

ICade

2016 – 7ltrs – SAC

2017 – 3ltrs – SAC

2018 - - 12ltrs – SAC

2019 – 11ltrs – SAC

2020 – 5 ltrs – SAC to date

 

Junction –

2016 – no records

2017 – 35 ltrs - SAC

2018 – 40ltrs – SAC

2019 – 30ltrs – SAC

2020 – 35ltrs – SAC

 

Eco Plugs Max

2016 – 200plugs – SAC

2017 – 2000 plugs – SAC

2018 – 2000 plugs – SAC

2019 – 1000 plugs – SAC

2020 – 1000 plugs – SAC to date

 

E

All herbicides sprayed to manufacturers recommendations.

 

2

SAC has no strategies in place for the reduction in the use of herbicides.

We have a mulching programme in place for mulching of shrub and rose beds
which through time we should see a reduction in the amount of glyphosate
used.

 

3

We do not hold detailed records as asked for as all training, purchase of
PPE .

The cost for purchasing herbicides for the past 5 years for SAC use -
£62802.10

Contractor costs for the past 5 years including 2020 - £252366.51

I regret that Council staff costs for spray work are not separately
recorded as they form part of the wider grounds maintenance budget and
spraying is one of the many duties undertaken by grounds staff as part of
their duties. are not recorded in such a format

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request you can ask for
a review.  A request for a review must be submitted within 40 working days
and should be put in writing to Deborah McVey, Information Governance Team
Leader, South Ayrshire Council, County Buildings, Wellington Square, Ayr
KA7 1DR, Tel: 01292 612223, Email: [1][South Ayrshire Council request email].  If you
remain dissatisfied after a review, you have the right to apply to the
Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision. This must be submitted
within 6 months after the review and should be put in writing to the
Scottish Information Commissioner at Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St.
Andrews, Fife KY16 9DS, Tel: 01334 464610 Email:
[2][email address] or use the online portal
[3]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

 

Kind regards

Andrew

 

FOI Team | Information Governance | Chief Executive’s Office | County
Buildings | Wellington Square | Ayr, KA7 1DR | Tel: 01292 612223 | E-mail:
[4][South Ayrshire Council request email] | [5]www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk

 

 

 

 

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Dear Andrew,

Thank you very much for all the information you have sent across.

Best wishes,
Kate