{"id":351449,"date":"2025-08-17T10:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T10:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/351449\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T10:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T10:57:12","slug":"removing-invasive-plant-from-norwich-meadow-could-take-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/351449\/","title":{"rendered":"Removing invasive plant from Norwich meadow could take years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Families using Greg&#8217;s Meadow in Spixworth have been\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.edp24.co.uk%2Fnews%2F25223020.warning-japanese-knotweed-growth-spixworth%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7CPeter.Walsh%40newsquest.co.uk%7C7a0830c5bd3949b090f108ddd9a5295c%7Cb0660fd33ef04a73b44ef93c297faf15%7C0%7C0%7C638906025568154225%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=bp%2BWryhb800eyDk86cD23inclabYm%2F8afqjxdyn%2BQHY%3D&amp;reserved=0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">advised to keep their distance from part of a picnic area<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"An area of Greg's Meadow in Spixworth has been fenced off\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>An area of Greg&#8217;s Meadow in Spixworth has been fenced off (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest) This came after the discovery of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.edp24.co.uk%2Fnews%2F24169633.japanese-knotweed-thriving-norfolk-due-wet-weather%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7CPeter.Walsh%40newsquest.co.uk%7C7a0830c5bd3949b090f108ddd9a5295c%7Cb0660fd33ef04a73b44ef93c297faf15%7C0%7C0%7C638906025568190678%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=IMMp%2Foo5kxQPr7MYvOLCxk07M0GVzvawkklxP9UOgv0%3D&amp;reserved=0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Japanese knotweed<\/a>,\u00a0a plant native to East Asia which has spread out of control since being introduced to the UK in the 1800s.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"Japanese knotweed\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>Japanese knotweed (Image: PA) An area of the picnic area on the meadow has been fenced off for the past few months to try and keep people away.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"An area of Greg's Meadow in Spixworth has been fenced off\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>An area of Greg&#8217;s Meadow in Spixworth has been fenced off (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest) But the work to clear the area, which has already started, could take some time to complete.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Mark Knight, chairman of Spixworth Parish Council, said; &#8220;We\u00a0have put up appropriate fencing around the knotweed and this will be the start of a two-year treatment cycle for it, which has been recommended to us by a specialist.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"Part of Greg's Meadow has been fenced off\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>Part of Greg&#8217;s Meadow has been fenced off (Image: Peter Walsh, Newsquest) The work is taking place after warning notices appeared in the meadow earlier this year.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Japanese knotweed is\u00a0identified by distinctive\u00a0red stems and bamboo-like appearance.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It can grow up to\u00a08ft tall\u00a0and its roots can reach as wide as\u00a028ft.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It can grow up to four inches a day and forms dense thickets which can kill native plant species, making it particularly harmful to the flora of the Norfolk Broads.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Tackling its spread costs the UK nearly\u00a0\u00a3250 million a year, according to invasive plant specialists Environet, with an estimated 5pc of homes affected across the UK.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It can crack tarmac, block drains, undermine foundations and invade homes. Its presence can be\u00a0enough to cut a property&#8217;s value\u00a0or prevent a mortgage lender approving a loan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Families using Greg&#8217;s Meadow in Spixworth have been\u00a0advised to keep their distance from part of a picnic area.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-351449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115043751909023657","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}