THE letter from a resident of Grappenhall about the current condition of pavements and roads with large established weeds growing in large numbers, looking untidy and also impeding drainage is one which has been raised with the council in various forums over previous years (Warrington Guardian, July 28).

The council does have money to undertake weed control measures and after a major review last autumn following the poor delivery of the operation in 2014 and 2015 it confirmed it would fund three applications of herbicide throughout the growing season.

If money is not the issue in the large quantity of unsightly weeds all over the town, then what is the problem?

I told the council during its review last year that contract management and timing of works were the issue, and a document was produced with a strategy for 2016.

Having a contractor weed spray the town with a number one application starting in early to mid March appears far too early and overwintered weeds are not significantly active.

Having weed spray number two starting in June or July, with some parts of the town only being completed five or six weeks later, means visible weeds are pretty much as if left untreated until midsummer or beyond.

The council then has a third herbicide application budgeted for around September although in 2015 the second application was so late that the third was abandoned.

Having the first control application around the third week of April and starting the second in June about three weeks or so after the first was complete, was not a chosen option by the council.

There is a very clear need for Warrington Borough Council to evaluate the performance of its handling of the weed control contracts and highlight what has gone wrong again.

From this a strategy for 2017 can be created which will hopefully be very different to those of the past few years.

Simply killing off established weeds is not the desired outcome as all that does is change things from green live weeds to yellow/brown dead weeds which are still unsightly.

A well managed operation combined with mechanical sweeps and other scheduled works ought to be able to deliver streets and areas with very few weeds present.

IAN JOHNSON Paddington