Hope on the horizon for a Pesticide free Milton Keynes
On Wednesday 18 June 2025 our Pesticide free Milton Keynes group had their second meeting with Chris Bridgman, vice chair of the Parks Trust Board of Trustees and Chair of the operational strategy committee. He assured us that the Parks Trust, which manages 6000 acres of our green space and 80 miles of verges, continues to reduce their pesticide (herbicide) use year on year and - as their rolling landscape contracts are renewed - he has assured us that we will not see much spraying in the western parks in 2 years time. In the meantime the spraying around trees, under hedges, around signs, on shrub beds etc will continue in many areas. We are very grateful for the opportunity to meet with Chris to discuss our concerns in detail with him. We will continue to monitor the spraying in our parks over the summer and shall be meeting with him again at the end of the season.
With regard to Milton Keynes City Council, on Monday 16 June 2025, Nicholas Hannon, Assistant Director Environment, wrote that he will follow up to ensure that no spraying around organic objects such as trees is happening by their contractor Glendale.
This is huge positive step forward.
At the Full Council Meeting on Wednesday 18 June 2025, in response to my questions, Councillor Mahendran, Cabinet Member for Sustainability and Biodiversity, reiterated that the Integrated Pest Management Framework is underway and that Milton Keynes City Council is committed to trying to get as close to zero as possible in their herbicide and pesticide use. She also stated :-
“I would again just say that the council does not spray on green areas on green landscaping. We spray grey infrastructure because it’s needed for safety for maintaining our assets”.
This assurance that much of the spraying which we see around our city should not be happening was very welcome.
Nicholas Hannon has offered to meet once the IPM draft framework is completed. Our Pesticide free Milton Keynes group is very keen to work collaboratively and constructively with our city leaders to help the recovery of nature in our urban green spaces and to reduce the health risks of spraying to our residents.