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Written question asked by Lord Tebbit (Conservative) on Monday, 8 September 2014, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 September 2014. It was answered by Lord De Mauley (Conservative) on Monday, 22 September 2014 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Ragwort Control Act 2003

Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether there are any control orders made under the Ragwort Control Act 2003 currently in force; and whether there are any plans to make any such control orders.

Answer

The Ragwort Control Act 2003 makes no provision for control orders. The purpose of the Act is to provide for a code of practice to give guidance on how to prevent the spread of ragwort to be prepared. This resulted in the Code of Practice on How to Prevent the Spread of Ragwort which was published in 2004.

Natural England, the delegated authority for investigating complaints about injurious weeds, can issue enforcement notices under the Weeds Act 1959 where ragwort poses a high risk to grazing livestock or agricultural land.

The number of enforcement notices served under the Weeds Act 1959 in 2013, 2012 and 2011 is as follows:

Year

Enforcement notices served

2011

42

2012

36

2013

37

Enforcement is a last resort and where possible we encourage communications between landowners and complainants to try and resolve the issue. In the vast majority of cases this approach is successful.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL1856
Session
2014-15
Subjects
Weed control Ragwort
Legislation
Ragwort Control Act 2003
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk