Elected Member Briefing - Street weed clearing 2025

About this Briefing Note

Report by: Elaine Ritchie, Strategic Lead - Housing and Communities

Date: 17 September 2025

Subject: Street weed clearing 2025

Responsible Officer: Kyle Ross, Community Greenspace Climate Change Officer (Infrastructure) | Lesley Ann Cassidy, Greenspace Team Leader (Infrastructure)

Details

Purpose

To provide an update on the current programme of street weed control in Perth, Strathearn and Kinross, and advise on action taken to address delays in the completion of the 2025 programme.

Briefing Information

Background

Weed control management is carried out in two different ways by the Council. Weed control on paths and other hard surfaces within public parks and greenspaces are managed in-house through our Direct Services Grounds Maintenance Operations Team.

Weed control of streets and paths on the list of adopted public roads, is managed through externally sourced contracts and covers public pavements including building and wall bases, kerb lines, rural footways, road edges, bridges and bridge parapets. Some paths and hard surface areas which are not in parks or on the adopted road network, such as some paths in housing estates where there is a mix of owned and Council housing, are not routinely covered by the contract. Work in those areas has tended to be instructed as required and where resources permit.

The current street weed control contract was initially awarded to two contractors for a four-year period in 2024. The contracts for this work were split into three separate areas, each with its own agreement. 

There were challenges experienced in the first year of the contract, as detailed in Elected Member Briefing Note 90-2024. These led to delays in the spraying schedule in Strathearn, Kinross, Perth and Scone. Satisfactory reassurances were given by the contractor involved, that the delays were due to unforeseeable issues and would not be repeated in 2025.

Unfortunately, in the 2025 season the contractor has been unable to service the full list of agreed areas and has fallen behind schedule again, particularly in the Perth area. As the spraying work covered three separate areas, contractually it wasn't possible to just ask the other contractor to do the work in Perth.

What this means for the 2025 street weed control schedule

As the contractor who had the problems in 2024 has proved unable to service their full contract timeously, and to avoid further delays and impact on the appearance of Perth and Kinross streets, they have been instructed to focus on the parts of the contract outwith Perth, where they were operating more successfully.  Following procurement advice there were two options for doing Perth:

• Start a new procurement process, which would take time.
• Request an exemption to direct award the work to the other contractor, allowing us to move forward more quickly.

The exemption route was followed to avoid further delays and although the timescales to do this were longer than had been hoped, it was still quicker than going through a new procurement process and the contractor has been appointed and began work on 1 September.

Current status

The first treatment of street weeds has been completed in all areas. However, from close monitoring of the contract, it became apparent some of the spraying (by the original contractor) were not fully effective. They have been instructed to re-treat areas including the Western Edge, Craigie, Muirton, North Muirton, Oakbank and Viewlands in Perth, as well as Auchterarder, Milnathort, Almondbank, and Comrie.

Progress has continued elsewhere with the second treatment complete in Eastern and Highland and underway in the rest of the area. Completion of this second treatment is expected by 22 September, weather permitting.

Public concerns and feedback

The Council are aware that there is public concern about the level of street weeds in some areas.  This is due to a combination of the delays by the contractor and some areas, such as link paths in housing areas including North Muirton and Ferguson Park, and some roundabouts, being undertaken on a reactive basis.

This is being reviewed this for future years to consider whether resources can be allocated to include all reactive work in the regular schedule of weed clearing. In the meantime, the Grounds Maintenance Operations Team are carrying out street weed clearing in North Muirton and Ferguson Park, given the particular concerns raised there. Other areas will be treated this season as required, within the available resources.

The performance of the contractors will continue to be closely monitored for the remainder of the season. If required, based on performance and feedback from communities, a full review will be undertaken of the overall street weeding contract to ensure there is an effective and comprehensive service for 2026 and beyond.