Brighton: Protest against council glyphosate U-turn

Councillors were grilled outside Hove Town Hall this afternoon by campaigners against the use of glyphosate, previously banned in Brighton and Hove, to tackle the city’s weed problem.

Council environment boss Tim Rowkins was met by an angry group ahead of tonight’s city environment, South Downs and the sea committee meeting at Hove Town Hall. It was led by Steve Geliot, who co-founded the Save Our Starlings petition.

Steve Geliot (pictured) said the public could lose trust in the council if the decision goes ahead (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

“I know weeds is a difficult problem but this is not the right solution,” said Steve.

The weed killer was banned by the Labour council in 2019 due to concerns it could cause cancer and damage the environment.

Furious protesters yelled outside the town hall (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

It will return if approved by councillors this evening.

Steve said: “We shouldn’t be doing this in a Unesco biosphere, for goodness sake.

“It is wonderful to see so many people out here today against this.

“It seems like political Punch and Judy. People across the city will have voted for a council that is kind to nature and now they are harming themselves by doing this.”

Security guards monitored the demonstration – fencing off the crowd with an orange barrier and tape (Image: Andrew Gardner / The Argus)

Labour told voters in its manifesto that it “won’t return to the use of harmful glyphosate” – but some seven months later the party is backtracking amid concerns over the state of Brighton’s streets.

Steve added: “If they break this promise, people won’t trust them. We need to have councillors that we can trust.

“This war on weeds. We don’t need another war. We’ve had wars on drugs, terrorism, we don’t need a war on nature.”