Campaigner Katie Teakle, Cleethorpes
When Katie moved to Cleethorpes 40 years ago she saw the area as a haven for wildlife and an amazing place to bring up her young family who would wonder at the flocks of migratig birds.
“I loved it because it was an authentic place. It had this amazing dynamic being on the Humber estuary. Not only do you have that wonderful ‘woof’ of air from the North Sea, but there’s The Humber, moving all the time. With that comes wonderful wildlife like the wild geese - these creatures have been here long before us.”
But in recent years, Katie has noticed the area changing - a drop in the numbers of wild birds and changes in the nature around her.
“For the first time in 40 years, I've got no frogs in the garden. And that is so distressing. I love to take children into the garden and show them the frog spawn. And, this is because there's a problem with invertebrates which means the frog numbers are right down. These are portents, aren't they?”
To date, Katie has launched a petition on Change.org which attracted more tham 26,000 signatures which she also presented to her local authority, North East Lincolnshire Council.
While a ban doesn’t look imminent in her area, Katie has seen the issue discussed at the council.
A North East Lincolnshire Council spokesperson told us: “Full Council received a petition on the 26th September 2024 and asked officers to investigate the possibility of the Council phasing out the use of Glyphosate with possible alternatives. A report was considered by Communities Scrutiny, and their recommendations will be presented to a future Cabinet meeting.
“The recommendation of Scrutiny is to instigate a trial on the highway to better understand the impact of changes to the current weed control programme and to limit the phase out of Glyphosate to areas of green open spaces and parks at this time.”
You can send Katie a message of support via the comments below and we’ll supporting her progress via this new section too.