Stop spraying grass verges

I welcome Stirling Council's Alive With Nature plan. But the Council needs to look to its own routine practices, some of which constitute the kind of environmental vandalism that this document condemns. I'm referring to the routine spraying of weedkiller on the edges of paths and alongside fences and hedges in school grounds, parks and verges, which destroys wildflowers (so-called 'weeds') and wildlife habitats (especially by hedges) and deprives pollinators of food sources. Weedkiller also destroys soil organisms, gets into water systems, and can affect animal and human health. This is especially pernicious in school grounds. Such spraying goes against some of the key aims of the Council's plan - - the objective to ensure 'Biodiverse areas exist within all school grounds and business parks' (p.14) and the highest priority action to 'Deliver changes to land management, include grass and verge maintenance' (p.15).