Glyphosate Free and Bee Friendly

We have been bee friendly for around seven years. We have banned pesticides that harm bees, created wild flower verges and redesigned our gardens to encourage more bees.

Bees are an extremely important part of our ecosystem, and their declining numbers is very worrying to us all, so this is a continual endeavor that will assist in protecting our environment.

We took our first step on this journey in 2016 when we decided to select ‘pollinator-friendly’ plants for the Queen Mother’s Garden (next to Castle Hill). In 2016 we agreed that our grounds team should stop using glyphosate-based weed-killer, which research has shown to be harmful to insects such as bees. This was a complete ban of the use of glyphosates in sensitive areas such as those rich in wildlife, play areas and dog walking areas and high profile tourist areas.

Shaftesbury Town Council was delighted to announce that its application for a Tesco Bags for Help Grant had been successful and their project ‘The Shaftesbury Big Bee Project’ was put forward to a customer vote in Tesco stores during July and August 2017. This raised funds to host bee friendly workshop events and purchase bee hotels for use in the town.

More recently we have been working with the Open Spaces Group to create a bee friendly area at Salisbury Street Green. This will feature more colourful flowers and fragrant pollinator plants, which will include buddleia and other bee-friendly plants.