Local Knotweed Action
The Community Council started to record of all outbreaks in of Japanese knotweed our area and set up a Knotweed Taskforce in 2014. Its aims are listed below.
If you regularly walk in areas where the weed is flourishing and are willing to help in this exercise, please let the secretary know. (secretary@rhuandshandoncommunity.org)
If you do not know what it looks like, we will help you identify it. Copies of the leaflet we produced are still available. You can see pictures and identification tips on the Knotweed Facts lower down this page.
We inform Argyll and Bute Council of our findings, and ask them to set up a containment programme for the weed. We have had mixed sucess with this
There was a landmark case in February 2017 in which Network Rail were sued for allowing Knotweed to spread onto someonelse's land. This has implications for everyone who has a garden.
The aims and objectives of the Knotweed taskforce are listed below.
• Raise awareness of the plant, its main features and the danger it poses to the property and the environment.
• Offer help to the Community in identification.
• Appeal for help from the general community in locating all areas of the weed
- Roadsides
- Woodland
- Seashore
- Railway tracks
- Gardens
Report outbreaks to the relevant landowner
Keep a record of where outbreaks are located.
Monitor the situation.
Initial Actions: September 2015
- An Information Leaflet was produced and distributed to all residents in Rhu and Shandon; copies still availacble
- Landowners in the district were made aware of status of old and new outbreaks of the weed on their land.
- All the landowners, Luss Estates, Argyll and Bute, the MOD and Network Rail promised treatment.
Argyll and Bute have information on their website about knotweed and other invasive species.
In 2018 they revised their policy on dealing with these
Facts about Japanese Knotweed
It was imported as a garden plant in Victorian times and is spreading fast in our area.
- it is lush green in colour
- has shovel shaped leaves
- has a stem that's bamboo like in appearance
- produces white flowers around September or October
- It can grow 1 metre in a month
- In August /September the growth is very lush and you can see why our Victorian ancestors thought it was an asset
- A single stem is definitive
- It can regenerate from a small fragment and has very deep strong roots which can damage foundations.
- It can affect house sales
- You must not strim or cut it, unless you can burn it immediately in situ.
- It has creamy flowers in September or October.
- Native plants are suppressed and, after a couple of years, it can be the only plant left standing.
- In winter the hollow stems look rather like bamboo. They remain throughout the winter.