Giant Hogweed

(asked on 14th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the (a) value and (b) range of support his Department has allocated to each local authority to tackle giant hogweed; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the EU co-funded project to (a) develop a regional approach to tackling invasive non-native species and (b) facilitate the co-ordination of support to local action groups; and if he will make a statement.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 20th July 2020

Defra does not provide any direct support to local authorities specifically in regard to giant hogweed. Local authorities have a suite of powers at their disposal to deal with landowners that allow giant hogweed to become a problem and spread outside of their land. Defra is happy to provide advice to local authorities as and when it is needed.

The Reducing and Preventing Invasive Alien Species Dispersal (RAPID) LIFE Project, co-funded by the EU, has received a six-month extension due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We anticipate the end of project report to be completed in the coming months. This report will include an assessment of the efficacy of the project. In addition to this an assessment of the socio-economic impact of the project and contribution to ecosystem function will be produced.

The project is on track to meet four of its five goals, which include helping the invasive non-native species management of local action groups (LAGs) become more coordinated both regionally and nationally. Uptake and engagement has had varying success, often depending on geography and density of LAGs. This will be covered in both reports.

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