A CONTROVERSIAL weed killing substance will continue to be used across Kinver despite the concerns of some local residents.

Members of Kinver Parish Council voted in support of the continued use of a weedkiller which has an active ingredient of glyphosate – a substance that some UK councils have banned.

The council’s decision to back the product has angered a number of residents who claim glyphosate is unsafe after the World Health Organisation recently branded a glyphosate-based weedkiller “probably carcinogenic to humans”.

One Kinver resident, who did not want to be named, said: “I can’t believe a glyphosate weedkiller is being used in Kinver.

“It is a dangerous substance that should be banned, so to know the council is backing its use is unbelievable.

“Councils across the country are starting to ban weedkillers that contain glyphosate, and as a resident I feel Kinver shouldn’t use it either.”

However, Councillor Henry Williams, chairman of Kinver Parish Council, said the product used by the council was “fully licensed” and “approved for use”.

He said: “The parish council considered the conflicting evidence in relation to the use of glyphosate and noted the product was fully licensed and approved for use in this country.

“The council determined, at the present time, to continue with its use pending conclusive evidence being published or the licence for its use being withdrawn.

“Should such evidence or revocation of licence be forthcoming the parish council will of course review its use.”

Councillor Lin Hingley, a South Staffordshire District councillor and organiser of Kinver’s annual ‘Best Kept Village’ bid, said: “We have been told it is safe to use and until I hear otherwise I will continue to have no objections.

“With my ‘Best Kept Village’ organiser hat on, I must say the weedkiller is a godsend. I don’t know where we would be without it.

“A lot of our members are elderly and would struggle to bend to do the weeding, so without it we wouldn’t be able to keep the weeds down.

“We are a population of 7,000 in Kinver and I have had two complaints about its use, but they have no proof at all that it is doing any damage to animals, or people for that matter.

“It is used extensively across the district and I am sure if it was unsafe we would know about it and would’ve seen plenty of dogs and birds drop down dead, but we haven’t seen any.

“They have no proof that what is used in Kinver is unsafe.”

A video of the parish council meeting, which voted on the use of the weedkiller, was uploaded onto YouTube by Kinver resident and glyphosate critic Ian Macey.

He told the News: “Animals and humans don’t drop dead from glyphosate, we end up with horrible cancers and illnesses.

“Hundreds of studies have linked glyphosate with all manner of illnesses, including autism, depression and in particular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

“I have been messaged by a Kinver resident who lost his dog to cancer at the age of six years old and was disgusted that his road gets sprayed. I don’t want this to harm my dogs and if I had children I would be even more angry, because who knows what they could pick up from it.”

During the video of the parish council meeting which Mr Macey uploaded onto the internet, a comment from Cllr Ian Sadler caused widespread concern. The cllr said the weedkiller was “safe enough to drink” – leading the unnamed Kinver resident to call for the councillor to be “removed from office”.

He said: “For a parish councillor to suggest weedkiller is safe enough to drink is beyond the pale and very worrying.

“Those kind of comments should not be made by a public figure in an official council meeting and he should be removed from office.”

The News has contacted Cllr Sadler for a response, but Cllr Hingley responded: “I think Cllr Sadler’s comments were made in jest about how safe the weedkiller is and I don’t think he meant it literally.”

Kinver Parish Council declined to comment.

Meanwhile - Nigel Tolley, Kinver based chairman of the Badger Trust West Midlands, has also expressed concern about the use of glyphosate.

He said: “There’s a very strong argument for it to be banned. It’s carcinogenic.

“They always say it’s safe for animals after it’s dried – the problem is, especially when the council uses it in the afternoon, it isn’t drying when it gets dark.

“They have been spraying it around badger setts in the afternoon before it gets dark, so it isn’t safe. Councils shouldn’t be using it.

“The EU have been wanting to ban it for the last few years but it hasn’t ever gone through; there’s a strong lobby to keep it because there isn’t an alternative.”