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Amenity Pesticide Use

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Dear Aberdeenshire 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.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,

Kate Basley

Acknowledge email,

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your information request.

Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, we might not be able to answer
your information request within its statutory timescale.

The Council has legislative duties to respond to this emergency and we are
working hard to make sure that resources are focused on delivering and
supporting essential services. As responding to information requests could
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[Aberdeenshire Council request email]

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Regards,
Aberdeenshire Information Enquiries

References

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Dear Aberdeenshire Council,

I was wondering if you had an update on my FOI request, dated 11th August?

Yours faithfully,
Kate Basley

ISFOI, Aberdeenshire Council

Hi Kate,
I do wish to apologise in the lateness of responding to your request. Your
request is being dealt with by the appropriate personnel within the
organisation who are doing their best to respond to your request but now
with Covid-19 resources are being distributed across the organisation so
it's proving harder for the services to collate the information at this
time.
Rest assured we will respond to your request as soon as possible and I do
apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator

Infrastructure Services

 

Further Information:

Aberdeenshire Council’s Review Procedure under the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland)
Regulations 2004 can be accessed at the following link:

[1]http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/council-...

[2]Freedom of Information Review Process - Aberdeenshire Council
Find out about council and democracy, Freedom of Information (FOI), your
councillor, agendas and minutes for committee meetings, elections, how we
make decisions, details of council plan, quality and rights, the council's
budget, public consultations, community empowerment, statistics,
Information and Records Management and Model Publication Scheme.
www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

 

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From: Kate Basley <[FOI #683760 email]>
Sent: 21 October 2020 14:11
To: FOI <[Aberdeenshire Council request email]>; newfoi <new[Aberdeenshire Council request email]>
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Amenity Pesticide Use
 
Dear Aberdeenshire Council,

I was wondering if you had an update on my FOI request, dated 11th August?

Yours faithfully,
Kate Basley

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Dh’fhaodadh fiosrachadh sochaire, a tha a-mhàin airson an neach gu bheil
am post-dealain air a chur, a bhith an seo. Ma tha thu air am post-dealain
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chuir am post-dealain agus dubh às am post-dealain an dèidh sin. ’S e
beachdan an neach a chuir am post-dealain a tha ann an gin sam bith a
thèid a chur an cèill agus chan eil e a’ ciallachadh gu bheil iad a’
riochdachadh beachdan Chomhairle Shiorrachd Obar Dheathain.

www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

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2. http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/council-...
3. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
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Dear FOI Team,

Thanks for your reply. No problem, I understand things must be all over the shop with Covid. Look forward to hearing from you when you can.

Best wishes,
Kate

ISFOI, Aberdeenshire Council

18 Attachments

 Dear Ms Basley

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“The Act”)

We refer to your request dated 11/08/2020 for the following information on
Amenity Pesticide Use. 

We confirm that the Council holds the following information, which we
believe satisfies your request, and which is as noted below:

We sincerely apologise for the lateness of this request, there was a delay
in receiving the 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.

Information on Document 1.

 

b. The COSHH assessment form for each of the pesticides you use.

Documents attached individually.

 

c. Where these chemicals are used, i.e parks, road verges, pavements, tree
bases etc.

At present pesticides are used to control weeds in parks, public open
spaces, road and footpath hardstanding surfaces, housing estates, tree
bases, shrub beds, playgrounds, schools and cemeteries.

 

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.

Quantities indicated on Document 2, shown at date of ordering.

 

e. Please also confirm the concentrations of each pesticide used at
application.

All pesticides are applied at the manufacturer recommended concentrations
as specified on specific product labels, relevant to the task being
undertaken.

 

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.

No formal strategy, however we do mulch shrub beds using composted
materials and wood chippings from tree and shrub pruning’s to supress weed
growth and reduce chemical treatments.

 

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.

Internal works: £307,870.70

Additionally, an external contractor carried out spraying to all road
footways for the whole of Aberdeenshire between 2015-2017 at a total cost
of: £171,887.22.

 

Please contact me as the officer responsible for responding to your
request if you have any further queries.

If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with this response, please refer
to the further information attached.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator
Infrastructure Services

 

Further Information:
Aberdeenshire Council’s Review Procedure under the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland)
Regulations 2004 can be accessed at the following link:

[1]http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/council-...

 

 

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This e-mail may contain privileged information intended solely for the use
of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you have received this
e-mail in error, please accept our apologies and notify the sender,
deleting the e-mail afterwards. Any views or opinions presented are solely
those of the e-mail's author and do not necessarily represent those of
Aberdeenshire Council.

Dh’fhaodadh fiosrachadh sochaire, a tha a-mhàin airson an neach gu bheil
am post-dealain air a chur, a bhith an seo. Ma tha thu air am post-dealain
fhaighinn mar mhearachd, gabh ar leisgeul agus cuir fios chun an neach a
chuir am post-dealain agus dubh às am post-dealain an dèidh sin. ’S e
beachdan an neach a chuir am post-dealain a tha ann an gin sam bith a
thèid a chur an cèill agus chan eil e a’ ciallachadh gu bheil iad a’
riochdachadh beachdan Chomhairle Shiorrachd Obar Dheathain.

www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

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1. http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/council-...

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Kate Basley please sign in and let everyone know.