Environment bosses want more funding to cut weeds

Guernsey's Environment Committee has applied for more money to deal with weeds on the roadside in 2027.

Environment and Infrastructure Committee (E&I) President Adrian Gabriel said the money would be used to employ more people to maintain the roads, as, in his words, the current approach "wasn't working".

The committee has been criticised for letting island roads become unkempt, with some parish officials saying the States should return to using weedkiller glyphosate to maintain them.

Policy and Resources (P&R) will present the budget for 2027 before 7 October.

Earlier this year during an exchange in the States, Scrutiny Management Committee President Andy Sloan criticised the state of the island's roads.

In an interview with the BBC on E&I's work plan for the rest of this political term, Gabriel said: "The approach that we've taken probably three or four years ago now hasn't delivered the results that we wanted.

"I'm not going to say isn't working because it has in some areas - but not everywhere."

He said this would not mean rowing back on halting the use of glyphosate by States Works.

He suggested the request was for hundreds of thousands of pounds, rather than millions of pounds.

The E&I budget for 2026 was £17,393,000 and Gabriel said he had submitted a budget to P&R which followed the States' resolution to find a 1% cut from cash limits in the 2026 budget.

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