A noxious weed is an invasive species of a plant that are typically bigger, faster-growing or more aggressive than the native species. As well as impacting on the environment, they can also damage property, the urban infrastructure, the economy, our health and the way we live.

If you have invasive plants or injurious weeds on your premises you have a responsibility to prevent them spreading into the wild or causing a nuisance.

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 states that it is an offence to "plant or otherwise cause to grow in the wild" any plant listed in Schedule 9, Part II of the Act.

This lists over 30 plants including Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed, Himalayan balsam and floating pennywort.

A large, vigorous weed that rapidly colonises most habitats to the exclusion of other plants.

It can damage property by growing through hard surfaces such as tarmac and concrete and therefore needs to be cleared from amenity and development sites.

The species also causes problems in terms of flood management. It increases the risk of riverbank erosion when the dense growth of the plant dies back in the autumn exposing bare soil.

It can also create a flooding hazard if the dead stems are washed into the streams and clog up the channel.

A fragment of root as small as 0.8 grams can grow to form a new plant.

Giant hogweed can grow up to five metres tall and grows mainly in areas of damp soils, like river banks.

It can cause serious and permanent damage to skin following contact.

Himalayan balsam grows fast and can reach two to three metres in height. It rapidly spreads on the banks of slow-moving watercourses and becomes dominant, stopping other plants growing.

Floating pennywort is usually found floating on still or slow-moving fresh water. It can grow up to 20 centimetres a day, blocking out light and reducing the oxygen for other plants, fish and animals.

Under the Weeds Act 1959, action can be taken against the occupier of land on which injurious weeds are growing where there is a risk of them spreading to neighbouring land.

Five particular plants classified as 'injurious' (harmful) weeds under the Weeds Act 1959 are;

Common Ragwort

Ragwort is harmful to, and can kill, horses and livestock if any part of the plant is eaten by them.

Spear thistle, creeping or field thistle, curled dock, broad-leaved dock

The thistles and docks are economically harmful if allowed to spread, as they can stop pasture and crops growing properly.