URBAN cosmetic spraying with pesticides/herbicides (Substances designed to kill living organisms) is usually done every spring as well as now in late autumn, when weeds are dying back.

No warnings required, before or after. By the time the yellow rings appear around lamps, hydrants, public seats, verges and edges, it’s too late!

I asked HSE what the rules are for this, after discovering that my local council, TVBC, did not know what the sub-contractors had used.

Contractors have to tell sprayers what they are using. They are not obliged to record what was used.

Even if they were, neither council nor public have any right to this information.

So I asked HSE if they considered the situation the same as for residents and bystanders with farm spraying. They said ‘yes’.

The situation is not the same.

We are paying for it, in our streets and towns.

But we have, apparently, no rights at all in this matter.

Margaret Reichlin, MacCallum Road, Upper Enham.