A CHEMICAL linked to health problems will continue to be used in the city’s parks because weeding by hand is “too labour intensive”.

While city councillors have decided to limit the usage of Glyphosate weed killers, they refused to ban it outright.

The herbicide will now no longer be used in any of the city’s green areas such as lawns, flower beds and open grassland but it will still be used on hard standing areas.

Glyphosate is the main ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup which is widely used by local authorities as well the agricultural industry and the domestic market.

There are international campaigns to ban the chemical with Holland, Denmark and Sweden having banned or restricted the use of it by local authorities.

In the UK, Bristol, Frome, Brighton and Edinburgh are among those to have either stopped or restricted Glyphosate weed killers.

Its effects on humans is unclear – a study by the World Health Organisation found it to be “probably carcinogenic to humans” but another said it was “unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk”.

During Monday’s city council services committee meeting, councillors Michael Pope and Ian Tomes argued that Glyphosate should be banned from all council activities.

Cllr Tomes said: “I would have thought in this day and age where we know there is some history around herbicides and pesticides in terms of cancer and other things, the council should be leading the way, setting an example for others to follow.

“We can review it in a year to see if it creates a problem.”

But other councillors disagreed. Matthew Dean said it was the only option to rid areas of a weed infestation, saying some of the open spaces in the city would deteriorate if it was not used.

He said: “It’s all about being pragmatic and taking a realistic view of this.”

Colin Froude said a ban would cause “more problems and more costs” with weeds breaking up the hard surfaces and extra manpower needed to weed manually.

For the last few months, the council has not used the controversial chemical at all in Queen Elizabeth Gardens with the aim of achieving a Green Flag award for the park.

Instead, it has used an alternative approach to weed management, including mulching the majority of beds to suppress weed growth and using hand tools to clear the hard standing areas.

However, it was found that while some methods were successful, it was too labour intensive to keep hard surfaces weed free.

They voted 11 to 2 to limit the use of Glyphosate weed killers in the city’s parks and open spaces. It will only be used for hard surfaces and the issue will be reviewed in a year’s time.