Guest blog: How amenity helps to keep our surroundings free of weeds and pests safely
You may think of weeds and pests as just those things that stop your flower beds from looking pristine, but they also impact many things in our day-to-day lives that you may not realise. Whether you are visiting a park, playing golf, or taking the train, these places would look very different without amenity management.
Amenity is a sector that ensures roads, rails, streets, parks and sports grounds are maintained so that weeds, pests and diseases are controlled, creating safe and healthy amenity areas. The Amenity Forum promotes the best practice of weed, pest and disease control within the sector to make sure the people managing and producing these things are doing so in the best way to protect our environment. Over the years, the sector has changed what it has used to manage pests and weeds to help reduce our impact on the world around us.
As a keen gardener with an allotment, I understand why people might want to use weed killers or slug repellents to keep them at bay. It’s an easy solution that addresses the problem and protects your plants. But they have to be used in a measured, safe and appropriate way.
This is the approach we take at The Amenity Forum when managing public spaces. For instance, keeping on top of the 52,000 hectares of UK rail track, we’ve been able to incorporate the latest infrared technology where a spray train can now precisely target the weeds within the tracks and the immediate vicinity with chemicals. This ensures the most efficient and effective approach, minimising chemical use and producing a safe, healthy and fit for purpose rail network.
So, what about the 27,000 parks in the UK? Without the amenity sector and park-keepers responsible for maintaining our parks and green spaces, our parks would be overrun with weeds. Where chemicals are required to control pests and weeds, park-keepers apply them following industry standards, to ensure that people using the parks, and wildlife living within the green spaces, are not affected. This means parks can safely offer us somewhere to spend time outside and boost our mental health.
While this is only a small insight into how the amenity sector manages public spaces, to promote the correct use of pesticides to the public and help people better understand the amenity sector, we started GetMoving. The website launched around four years ago and is a hub of information to highlight the role of the amenity sector. It remains very much a given to many that trains and buses will run, pavements will be cleaned, and sports pitches are of a high standard, but none of this can happen without amenity. Through the development of GetMoving we hope to achieve greater awareness and understanding of the sector, why it matters and how we can all play our part.
To find out more about the Amenity Forum, visit the website www.amenityforum.co.uk
About the author
Professor John Moverley has worked in the private, public and charitable sectors including some 20 years at CEO level. He has substantial experience of serving in board roles and as a chairman. Aside from the important role as Chairman of the Amenity Forum, he is an independent member of the Severn & Wye Flood and Coastal Committee, chair of the advisory group for Winterbourne House and Gardens, a Trustee and Board member for BASIS Registration and on the board of the Moreton Morrell Campus of the Warwickshire College. Until recently he was Chairman of the West Midlands Forestry & Woodlands Advisory Committee. He is also a regular contributor to the Property Chronicle and other publications. He runs his own consultancy business helping organisations manage change and is a well known and popular speaker both in business and on more social occasions. He was awarded the OBE in 2004 for services to agriculture and education.
