It is alleged council staff sprayed the herbicide ‘Brush off’ and glyphosate on a Larrys Mountain Road nature strip, which borders rose grower Rob Richmond’s property, on October 20 last year.

Bureau of Meteorology data for October 20 shows a southerly wind of 26km per hour in the morning, with a maximum wind gust of 44km per hour.

Mr Richmond said his roses “copped a drenching” of the poison. 

“Roses are super-sensitive to both of the chemicals council used,” he said. 

“My roses were always so healthy and now they aren’t.”

Mr Richmond believes council broke the law when it sprayed in a strong southerly wind. 

“I was home on the day, I know it was blowing a gale,” he said. 

“They should have done a risk assessment before they sprayed beside my property.

“Anyone with any common sense would see that if you sprayed the nature strip in a 26km southerly, my roses would be affected with chemicals that are nasty.”

Mr Richmond said it was a community health issue that council needed to address.

“These chemicals are not safe and they all run straight into the creek from here,” he said. 

“It is an environment issue as well.”

Mr Richmond, who fills the pavilion at the Eurobodalla District Show with flowers each year and sells his roses at the markets, said it had dramatically affected his income. 

“It has knocked back production 60 per cent and the quality of flowers is less,” he said.

“I have asked for compensation but they have pointed out that the only way I would get that is if I took them to court. 

“It’s about personal pride - I take great pride in filling up the pavilion at the show because I like the display and people like to look at the flowers.”

He said he used every possible method to bring his rose bushes back to life, but he would still battle to find flowers of show quality this year.

“Normally the flower size is much larger,” he said.

“There are so many deformities on the roses and so many canes dying. 

“They are coming back but they are still in poor condition. 

“I give these roses every fertiliser that roses are meant to have.

“They are looked after meticulously and not only are they dying; I have had every bug and every disease that is in the rose book since.”

A council spokeswoman said a council contractor sprayed the verges on Larrys Mountain Road on October 16, not 20 as Mr Richmond reported, as part of council’s routine maintenance program to control vegetation on the verge.

“Council sprays a portion of the road reserve, starting 0.5 metres within the seal and extending approximately one metre beyond the edge of seal, to reduce the growth of grasses through the bitumen seal,” she said. 

“This significantly reduces further maintenance works and costs that may be incurred if the grass was allowed to grow through the seal.”

The spokeswoman said the chemical used in this instance was Glyphosate 360. 

She said wind speeds tested prior to spraying were recorded at 9km to 15km per hour in an easterly direction, which was within the threshold acceptable for these works.

“Council contractors are obliged to undertake risk assessments on works carried out,” the spokeswoman said. 

The spokeswoman said council officers visited the property to discuss the issue and have since “removed the front of the property from the spraying schedule”.