Stop Giant Hog Weed

I and other anglers have been going on for years over this plant, and it has been allowed to grow without intervention. The Environment Agency have done what they can but have had their budgets cut and are in need of more investment in this department and others, it has to be tackled as a whole area, from its source to where it ends.

It is a massive task! One that has to be taken on but comes with great costs over many years. We would like the government to fund the spraying of this plant before more people get hurt which will happen unfortunately if nothing is done, because the biggest problem is just how large of an area this plant has grown over. The only way we see of getting control of Giant Hogweed is to work with fishing clubs to fund training of any members that would take the task on to spray the plant.

Also help from other agencies would be gratefully received, we at Little Britain Anglers are working on this at the moment and have asked the Irwell Rivers Trust and others to help. But the laws need changing so private land or any land has to have any invasive plants treated, as a lot of land is not the councils property but private land and does not have action taken, which in turn spreads the seeds, to do nothing would be a big mistake.

I have spent 12 years doing work on the river and now myself and Paul Heywood have formed Little Britain Anglers and over the last 18 months with the help of its members every one of them plays a part, have been trying to get action on this and fly tipping, with very little funding but lots of hard work, we still press for change to better the river Irwell and the waters surrounding it, we have shown what can be done and improved our stretch of the river and its habitat with good results.

With help from the Environment Agency and the Irwell Rivers Trust We have achieved a lot, how ever they need bigger funds if they are to help in the control of Giant Hogweed and other invasive plants like, Knot Weed, another problem with this plant when it dies down in winter it causes bank erosion as the water Freezes inside its stems and expands deep down in the soil this is like drilling lots of holes in the banking, this then in turn causes erosion of the bank which brings lots of problems, the Irwell Rivers Trust and Environment Agency have done lots in the past but budget cuts and funding are having a big effect in fighting the invasive species which in turn is now resulting in people getting hurt!

The only way forward is to get the government to help by means of funds to all who are trying to deal with this problem, before more are badly hurt, we are running a petition on our Facebook page soon to try and get as many signatures as possible to show how people feel.

Regards Eric Owen Little Britain Anglers.