Wigan Council launches a campaign to blitz the borough's weeds

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the local authority’s streetscene team, which is responsible for street-cleaning, maintenance and more, was diverted away from its normal job to support critical services. These included ensuring household bins were still collected, and supporting vulnerable people across the borough.

This left a backlog of street maintenance work, and meant weeds were allowed to grow for longer than normal.

Coun Paul Prescott, cabinet portfolio member for environment, said: “With our streetscene team supporting other vital council services like bin collections during the pandemic, there are more weeds than we would normally expect to see.

“During this Weeds Wipe-Out our streetscene team are tackling this excess, hand pulling weeds that remain and sweeping up the soil and dirt that accumulates along kerbs that acts as a seed bed for next year’s weeds. So we are tackling the existing problem and getting ahead of the problem for next year.”

The team has already started and will be doing this work right through until the end of February, when it starts grass-cutting.

Weeds will be tackled along main routes through the borough, focusing firstly on traffic islands as this is a common problem area for weeds.

The council has also been improving streets through the Our Town 2022 project, which has visited a further 13 wards this year carrying out street cleaning and maintenance, including tackling weeds in local centres.

Coun Prescott added: “While weeds may seem like a minor issue, they can really make our streets and roads look scruffy and unloved.

“We know how much people care about their local environment and we want to ensure they are looking their best, and boosting civic pride in our borough.”