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UK Legislation on Invasive Weeds

Legislation is surprisingly limited in the area of Invasive Weeds.

The Weeds Act 1959, is the earliest, which lists noxious weeds whose spread must be controlled.

Included under this Act are:

They are all native species but were deemed problematic in the post war drive for agricultural efficiency and self sufficiency in food. As mentioned above Ragwort is the most notorious and it was the threatened repeal of the Weeds Act that fired the public debate which eventually led to the Ragwort Control Act 2003.

The next relevant piece of legislation is the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 as the title suggests it has a broad remit but included under the Act are:

The Act makes it an offence to plant or to cause it to spread either species in the wild.

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 is another broad ranging piece of legislation that singles out Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed for a special mention. Under the Act it places a ‘Duty of Care’ on the producer and anyone they employ to dispose of soil or other material contaminated with Japanese Knotweed or Giant Hogweed. It becomes a controlled waste which can only be taken to licensed landfill sites who must deal with it in an appropriate way. There are only a limited number of Landfill sites willing to take this material and they must be informed prior to the material being taken to them.

The final piece of legislation relevant in this section has already been mentioned, the Ragwort Control Act 2003. This is an enabling Act and has resulted in the issuing in a Code of Practice for the control of Ragwort.