Japanese Knotweed

[user1498320065]

Does anyone have experience of Japanese Knotweed on a new housing estate.
Our estate is almost complete but there is loads of the stuff growing 20 meters away.
I’ve tried the council but surely the building company have some responsibility of checking?

Who owns the land? It’s there responsibility to get rid.

Their even

It’s a farmer who owns the land. I’ve tried to find who it is but they probably won’t do anything.

Have the same problem on my estate, a farmer owns the land with the knotweed, we walk the dogs around it and I’m always paranoid they’ll somehow run around in it and spread it to our garden.

They have to do something about it. Think the wildlife and countywide act requires it. Is there a department of your council who can enforce this?

www.knotweed-uk.com/Knotweed-and-The-Law.htm maybe see if the council have an environmental department who could speak to farmer

Dogs can't spread knotted unless they are good at taking cuttings. It doesn't spread by seed.

My friend had Japanese knotweed on their estate and they got the local farmer to come and spray it with something.

Gone.

I was gobsmacked. Couldn't believe it. But true. Get the farmer to deal with it, they have some very strong poisons at their disposal.

Landowners have a legal responsibility to stop it spreading, but local authorities vary in how assertive they are in getting landowners to fulfil their responsibilities.

Knotweed is a notifiable non native invasive species and it is the responsibility of the person whose land its on to prevent it spreading and to inform the EA of its existence, hence notifiable.
see here: www.gov.uk/guidance/prevent-the-spread-of-harmful-invasive-and-non-native-plants#plants-that-need-control

I cannot imagine the developer hasn't already had words with the farmer, it's a pita for all involved. So check with the developer first they may already have a management plan that's being enforced.

You arent obliged to remove /control them on your land but can be fined /prosecuted if you allow it to spread.

Even if you are controlling it you aren't obliged legally to spray it. It can also be controlled by cutting back, there's an exemption to allow it to be burnt. It will not be accepted at landfillls as you can bury the sodding stuff 8m deep and it'll come back so disrupt containment. However it's a relative of the rhubarb, the new shoots taste nice in pie if you can find some unsorted bits, and sheep will graze it to death eventually if you want to manage it that way. The usual way however involves cutting a notch near the Base and filling them with glyphosate and doing this over and over. It'll take about 3 plus years.

It was imported, as was himalayan balsam, giant hogweed and rhododendron ponticum as an ornamental, rapid coloniser to stabilise railway, road and canal cutting's. Which is why it's everywhere.