Bid to cut knotweed building damage

Plans to tackle a plant that can damage buildings and drains have been given the go-ahead.

The Government is to allow the introduction of foreign "jumping lice" in a bid to tackle the invasive Japanese knotweed plant.

A small, sap-sucking insect called a psyllid will be released at several sites, after Wildlife Minister Huw Irranca-Davies approved the move.

The insect is a known predator of the rampant plant in its native Japan.

Japanese knotweed is labelled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as one of the world's 100 most invasive species and the Government estimates it costs more than £150 million to control and clear it each year in the UK.

The plant grows at up to a metre a month and can damage buildings, roads, railways and drains, as well as eroding river banks, destroying natural habitat and crowding out other, native plants.

The research suggests the psyllid would only target the Japanese knotweed and a few other closely related non-native species if it were released in the UK.

Ian Nicholson, chairman of the environment and sustainability expert panel at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), said: "Japanese knotweed is a big issue for the construction industry, costing millions of pounds each year to manage.

"The ICE therefore welcomes any advances in providing solutions to this invasive species, provided of course they do not produce any other negative impacts on the environment."

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