Whyalla Mayor Phill Stone and Open Spaces Coordinator Matt Rotherham going on the offensive with the war on weeds.
Council declares war on weeds
24 November 2022
Whyalla City Council has listened to the community and has now directed additional resources to address the problem of the excessive weeds currently scattered throughout the city.
Council has doubled its normal operational capacity, with two additional team members now working full-time on the day-to-day program of tackling weeds in laneways, median strips, parks and verges.
Mayor Phill Stone thanked the community for their feedback regarding the issue and was pleased to be able to report the increase in resourcing to deal with the problem.
“The open spaces team have been working through their routine day-to-day program of weeding and verge clean up, but due to the ongoing weather patterns, they just can’t keep up,” Mayor Stone said.
“That’s why we’re directing more resources to try and get on top of the issue and get Whyalla’s streets and laneways cleaned up.
“The team does a wonderful job of looking after our city and takes great pride in the work that they do for our community. Like all residents, they are more than aware of the issue and have been working hard with the resources allocated.”
The overgrowth is not just isolated to Whyalla, with councils right across the state tackling the same issue. Whyalla, like most of the state, is experiencing an ongoing La Nina weather pattern with above-average rainfalls contributing to the abundance of weeds.
This year, Whyalla has experienced ~60% (almost 150mm) more rain than its long-term average at this time of the year (394.4mm vs 246.8mm), with rain on 103 days in comparison to only 79 days in 2021.
The team commenced their targeted efforts this week, so you will see them out and about around the city tending to the weeds, verges and cleaning up the laneways. Please be patient and kind as they get to work.
Open Spaces crew member Gary Hopkins hard at work on the mower in Whyalla Norrie.