TORFAEN council will continue to use a controversial weedkiller, despite receiving a petition against it signed by more than 200 people.

Glyphosate-based products are legal within the UK and have been approved for continued use on the EU Pesticides Database until December 2022.

But the product has been linked to causing cancer in a court ruling, prompting several councils in the UK to stop using it.

Torfaen is one of 13 councils in Wales which uses a glyphosate-based product to treat pavements and Japanese Knotweed.

MORE NEWS:

In the full council meeting, councillors agreed to continue the use of the weedkiller, citing cost and a lack of an alternative.

Cllr Huw Bevan said that his stance had “weakened slightly in light of it being withdrawn from sale from B&Q”.

Cllr David Thomas questioned whether the contractors were complying with health and safety after videos surfaced of them using the machinery “without gloves and masks”.

The full council heard that there has been more attention paid in the past year to the process following feedback.

However, the council is satisfied that the contractor is applying the chemical with the risk assessment.

Several councillors talked about a viable alternative to glyphosate.

Council leader Cllr Anthony Hunt said: “I don’t particularly like using glyphosate, but what is the alternative?

“We’d all be up in arms if we started having weeds growing ankle high and people started tripping over them.”

Although there are alternatives, they are still in the early trial days and are more costly and potentially more hazardous, the full council heard.

Foamstream was listed as an alternative in the petition that gathered 214 signatures, but the council said it would be a fifteen-fold increase on current costs.

In a report presented to full council, it says that a single application of Foamstream would cost £269,000. Glyphosate currently costs the council £24,600.

However, Cllr Gwyn Jenkins said he was “amazed that it seems to me money is being put before people’s health”.

However, the council has reduced the amount it has used in the last year per square metre by 79 per cent.

The Welsh Local Government Association has asked all councils in Wales about their use of glyphosate products.