The Vale of Glamorgan Council
Problems
- The council wanted to move away from using herbicides to control weeds and unwanted vegetation growth.
- As holders of 10 Green Flag awards for their parks and green spaces, a key criteria of the award specifically looks at park management policies and how they look to reduce the use of chemicals.
- As much of the work is done in public areas, the Vale needed a solution that was safe for use around people, including children and pets.
How we helped
Foamstream was part of a series of tests, carried out by the Vale's Park Department, of alternative methods of weed control. The methods included in the test were burning, weed ripping, brushing, hot water and Foamstream.
The result of the trial led to Foamstream being chosen as the herbicide-free weed control solution of choice based on easy of use, high efficacy and its suitability for a much wider range of surfaces than any other the alternative methods.
Foamstream has been in use in the Vale now since early 2018 and is used widely across the Vale in feature parks and sites. Since using Foamstream, the Vale become one of the best performing authorities in Wales for the quality of their outdoor spaces and has helped the Vale gain their 10 Green Flag awards this year.
Foamstream has helped the Vale position itself as a forward thinking, environmentally conscious council and they have received a huge amount of engagement from press, public and other organisations who are looking to them for guidance on adopting a herbicide-free alternative. these range from other members of the green flag network, through to authorities, landowners, housing and social services and the military. The Vale have also gained many additional spin-offs from adopting the system not originally considered such as it being an additional revenue stream for the council.
Foamstream is now a central part of the council's land management strategy. Watch Jon Greatrex - Vale's Parks and Open Spaces Officer talking about Foamstream here.
To read more about why the Vale of Glamorgan adopted Foamstream and the benefits it has brought, download the full case study below.
