Who’s Winning?

Lying in bed last night I started to think about how the world of invasive species has changed over the last 30 years or so.

We’ve gone from people being completely unaware of invasive species, to everybody having a pretty basic knowledge of every issue caused by the various range of plant nasty’s that plague our environment.

Japanese knotweed has gone from …. ‘Japanese what-weed?’ …to being featured in crossword puzzles, books, tv series and even used as a term to describe difficult and trouble some situations…

I used to entertain people in pubs with stories of what I do for a living – now it all seems very mundane and common.

I do feel that some of the mystique of the Knotweed problems in the UK have been downgraded by those in the industry trying to push bamboo as the ‘new Knotweed’ – which to me is a ridiculous comparison.

By putting Knotweed and bamboo in the same bracket of problem it downgrades the issues caused by the Japanese invader and makes it just another plant.

Bamboo is not running rampant down watercourses or blocking flood plains.

Bamboo is not spreading by casual dumping of waste material.

Bamboo is not downgrading brownfield sites that would otherwise be ripe for development and new housing.

Be clear – there is no comparison between the two – other than in domestic situation where bamboo has spread beyond its initial remit.

Yes bamboo can be a problem – but ‘No’… it’s not… ‘the new Japanese knotweed’.

There seems to be a lot more understanding of the invasive plant problem within construction and an acceptance of the rules and regulations for dealing with the issues.

In the early years of the industry we often came across developers who would try and side step the problems by hastily cutting down or trying to bury problem plants within site boundaries, or even illegally taking waste off site without proper classification.

Some developers would move problem waste from one of their sites to another – rather than pay the correct classification for waste and tax. This is obviously illegal and very short sited as it simply pushes the problem down the road until the site that has been used as a waste dump becomes ready to develop.

Thankfully I haven’t come across this sort of behaviour for some time as developers understand the penalties if caught.

I feel people do become blasé about problems and forget what the issues actually are.

Damage to hard surfaces sounds faulty innocuous when thrown into a discussion – but the reality of Japanese knotweed breaking through tarmac and hard surfacing when it actually happens on a newly built property is a massive headache.

Neighbour disputes can again sound fairly easy to resolve – until you get onto a huge argument about who pays for removal and damage caused. These can be eye-wateringly expensive and a ‘win’ – only for the lawyers who love these type of lengthy arguments.

Yet many other people still have a knee jerk reaction to sites with JK problems and will not buy or even live adjacent to infested properties.

So companies dealing with these type of issues are still relevant and will continue to be busy as more brownfield sites gain planning approval.

New invasives will arrive and new problems will need to be dealt with as global trade expands and climate change makes its presence felt as plants previously held back by colder conditions find their range has been expanded northwards.

Mike C