Welcome to Weedville

I have noticed that the weeds are doing really well in Southville this summer.

I did wonder if the Council had given up on spraying weeds due to budget cut backs.

But no, it appears that our Councillor Christine Townsend made a unilateral decision to stop using weedkillers (glysophate) all across Southville and declare it as a weed re-wilding Ward.

Here is the relevant recording from the Area Committee 7 meeting which was held on 23 Sep 2025.

I have already written about the options for weed management, and found that Glysophate is an effective weed treatment that has very little risk for humans.

Earlier in the meeting Bristol Waste said they were looking at alternatives for weed control and were currently talking to the Bristol Probation Services about the option of using Community Payback schemes to weed our streets.

Perhaps we will see Christopher Walken pulling up weeds along Coronation Road.

This decision shows that for all the talk about listening to residents and taking all views into account, it appears that some Councillors are only interested in promoting their own agendas and ignore anyone who doesn't agree with them.

Christine Townsend has made her personal views about cars very clear:

"developers that claim to be producing sustainable future proof developments need to get it into their heads that inner-city living is heading towards non-private car ownership with car clubs for the occasional journey and the public realm for safe and shared space for human beings, nature and dealing with the impacts of climate change, not pieces of metal"

Councillor Christine Townsend

This does not bode well for the residents consultation on the SBLN in Southville.