Winchester’s Member of Parliament spent part of a busy Friday at Alresford Golf Club, following an invitation from the team.
Alan Green, from Alresford Golf Club, invited Steve for a tour of the club’s facilities and to hear about the issues facing the club’s grounds team.
The club had previously used a product called Chlorpyrifos, which was traditionally used to control a pest known as ‘leatherjackets’. This pest, which forms into ‘daddy-long-legs’, is extensively damaging to the course and attract widespread damage from rooks as they feed from the grub.
Chlorpyrifos was a highly effective treatment but it was banned for widespread use via EU Directive (No.1107/2009) in 2016 and that ban should have been carried over into post-Brexit UK law via the EU Withdrawal Act. A replacement product – Acelepryn – is being used but it is not as effective and its approval is limited to small areas.
Alresford Golf Club, and possibly others in the Winchester area, are having to resort to manual pest management which involves tarpaulin coverings on the greens, not possible for fairways, to draw the pests out of the ground so they can be cleared.
Steve said after his visit; “It was fantastic to meet up with Alan and the team at the golf club and I must make a golfing trip to their fantastic course.
Hearing about the issues their facing first hand, I’ve agreed to establish why it was banned via that EU Directive, whether that ban has indeed carried over into UK law. I will also be picking this up with DEFRA directly to ask whether any advice accompanied the 2016 ban which led to a more effective long-term solution that doesn’t suffer the inadequacies of Acelepryn."
Pictured; Steve Brine with the Alresford Golf Club team.