Waverley has put £13,855 into a University of Surrey study on cutting weedkiller use. Surrey County Council still sprays pavements with glyphosate twice a year.

Waverley Borough Council has agreed to pay £13,855 towards research into cutting, and possibly ending, its use of weedkiller. The decision was published on 12 August by the Director of Strategy and Corporate Services (Waverley Borough Council decision, 12 August 2026).

The money buys a share of a research project called “Reducing Herbicide Use”. It is a joint contract with Guildford Borough Council and the University of Surrey’s Civic Lab. The total value is £27,710 excluding VAT, split equally between the two boroughs, and Waverley’s half comes from its Climate Change Reserve.

What the project will actually do

The published decision sets out the work in five parts:

  • a literature review
  • environmental impact assessments covering carbon emissions, air quality and biodiversity
  • practical trials of alternative weed treatments, at a location in Guildford
  • a life cycle assessment comparing the overall environmental impact of those alternatives
  • a final report with findings and recommendations

The project is scheduled to conclude by 31 December 2026. The stated purpose is to build an evidence base for “future policy decisions and operational approaches to weed management across Council managed land”.

Two other options were considered and rejected. Doing nothing was ruled out because it would leave the council without robust evidence. Hiring a commercial consultancy was ruled out because the existing partnership agreement with the University of Surrey already provides academic expertise.

The pavement outside your house is a different council’s job

This is the part worth being clear about. Waverley’s decision covers land the borough manages. It does not cover the public highway, and the highway is where most people in Farnham actually see weedkiller being used.

Weed control on Surrey’s roads and pavements is Surrey County Council’s responsibility, and the county is still spraying. Its own page says the work is “carried out by specialist vegetation management businesses appointed by the Council”, and that “the herbicide sprays used by the Council’s service providers are approved non-selective products that contain glyphosate” (Surrey County Council, weed control, reviewed 18 March 2026).

The county’s stated schedule is two rounds a year:

  • a spring treatment that typically begins in mid-April and runs for around two months
  • a late-summer treatment beginning in mid-August, to deal with regrowth

That second round is the one due now. Surrey says treatment focuses on “pavements, kerb edges on residential roads, and path edges next to walls or buildings where necessary”, rather than every surface.

What it means for you

If weeds on a Farnham pavement are causing a trip hazard or blocking a path, the report goes to Surrey County Council, not Waverley, through the county’s highway problem form. Reporting it to the borough sends it to the wrong desk.

Nothing changes on the ground this year as a result of Waverley’s decision. The contract buys evidence, not a new method, and the report is not due until the end of December. Any change to how the borough’s own parks and open spaces are treated would follow that, and would be a separate decision.

The £13,855 comes from the Climate Change Reserve, so it is not new money from council tax. It is worth noting the timing. From 1 April 2027, Waverley Borough Council is abolished, and its services merge into the new West Surrey Council along with Guildford, Runnymede, Spelthorne, Surrey Heath, Woking and Surrey County Council (Surrey local government reorganisation hub). Both boroughs paying for this research are merging into the same authority, so a report landing at the end of 2026 will be acted on, if at all, by the council that takes over.

Officer decisions like this one are published on the council’s own decisions register, which is also where the temporary road closure orders for local street events appear. We track the roadworks side of that separately on our Farnham roadworks and travel page.

Sources

Graphic by Farnham Today.