Tamworth roadside weeds: councillor Mark Rodda pushes to have weed problem dealt with before it impacts neighbouring farm land

A good year of rain has promoted the growth of pests like Coolatai Grass, St John's Wart and African Lovegrass on the roadside and Tamworth Regional Council Cr Mark Rodda is concerned about the impacts on neighbouring farmlands.

"Some of these are plainly poisonous to stock and are irritants to humans, many of them have very low grazing value," he said.

"The concern I did raise was what are we doing about dealing with the weed infestation on road verges?

"The answer was that the council doesn't have the funds."

Road reserves are usually the responsibility of local councils to manage, according to the Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

DPI states that weeds on the side of highways, state roads and other public roads should be dealt with by local councils "except where Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) has specified otherwise, or there is an agreement with council that RMS is responsible".

With a whole year of seeding and limited control over the weeds, Cr Rodda said the burden will likely fall to the landholder once seeds are blown into adjacent paddocks.

"The Noxious Weed Act was repealed which I felt addressed more of the responsibility on state, local government and landholders to address weed burdens," he said.

"But now the Biosecurity Act doesn't seem to be as strong in dealing with weed control, it's as if they have thrown their hands up in the air as it's a losing battle so why try?

"There's a murkiness of who should be dealing with the matter - the state government is awash with cash and could be helping councils with these weed burdens by releasing cash for councils to deal with that."

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The council's infrastructure and works manager Murray Russell said it does manage its obligations under the Biosecurity Act 2015 with a team of weeds officers.

"Any property owners who are concerned with specific weeds on nearby public land are encouraged to contact the council at 6767 5555 to resolve any issues," he said.

The Leader contacted DPI for comment.