Hackney Council says it spent over £11,000 on seeds for London Fields wildflower meadow

The London Fields wildflower meadow in bloom last year. It is currently being re-seeded, and council workers have been seen spraying it with glyphosate. Photograph: Hackney Council

Hackney Council splurged over £11,000 of public funds on seeds for the London Fields wildflower meadow last year.

The Town Hall today conformed it bought the seeds from company Euroflor for a staggering £11,052.80.

One gardening industry insider who works at local seed supplier Growing Life said the amount seemed excessive.

The wildflower meadow is currently at the centre of a controversy over the spraying of chemical glyphosate, which environmentalists want to see banned.

Hackney fashion designer Katharine Hamnett CBE is convening an emergency meeting this Saturday to raise awareness about widespread use of the pesticide by Hackney Council and its contractor WeedFree.

Last year the Town Hall denied it carried out so-called blanket spraying of streets with the weed killer, claiming its use was targeted and specific, but Ms Hamnett and environmental campaigners say the council “showers” our streets with the chemical.

Official guidance states local authorities should avoid unnecessary use of pesticides and should consider other ways of removing weeds.

Glyphosate has been linked in some studies to infertility, and environmentalists suspect it may be harmful to the ecosystem, though biotech industry bodies insist it is safe.

The irony of a commercial weed killer being used to help grow wildflowers has not been lost on opponents of the chemical.

Hackney Council says the London Fields wildflower meadow, Hackney’s “biggest urban meadow”, is a “haven for birds, insects and other wildlife”.

Related: 

Fashion designer Katharine Hamnett CBE calls on Hackney Council to ban glyphosate