Wilmslow business established to tackle £166m knotweed problem

A new company has been set up in Cheshire with the aim of addressing a multi-million pound drain on the economy.

Wilmslow-based National Knotweed Survey was founded by data specialist Will Sillar with property investor Tim Conniff and Richard Morrison, alongside David Layland and Richard Podmore, who previously worked in knotweed management.

According to National Knotweed Survey, the invasive weed costs Britain at least £166m a year as it grows out of control and destroys both manmade and natural structures.

The firm’s managing director, Will Sillar, said: “Mortgage lenders, estate agents, solicitors, insurers and indeed anybody buying or selling a property, are often in the dark with regard to the knotweed problem.

“Questions of how to spot it, what to do, and whose responsibility it is, have led to hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of business falling through every year.”

He added: “The organisation has been years in the making and we have brought together a team of experts to create the UK’s definitive central resource on knotweed.”

The team behind the enterprise is hoping to use a combination of research, historical records and aerial imaging to assist clients such as property and utility companies, local councils and members of the public.

Introduced into the UK in the 19th Century for ornamental purposes, Japanese knotweed has the ability to grow through concrete, tarmac and other man-made materials.