The council's spraying the weeds why bother?

[gbb]

When I worked in a shop a guy would come round twice a year to change the fluorescent tubes, he didn't just change the dead ones but all of them as this was considered cheaper by the establishment - I think the same thing is going on here. To recognize which weeds are noxious and what to kill them with would require someone at a higher pay grade than your man on the quad bike.

Several things re the fluorescents...
They really should be changed annually at least. The light output drops off quite markedly with time. You'll not really notice until you put new ones in.
Contractor will be buying lamps in bulk, so will buy them cheaper...sometimes a lot cheaper.
A price will probably have been negotiated to replace them all. This price overall will be way below calling someone out to replace 2 tubes or so at intermittent intervals which is inefficient and expensive.
Older tubes that struggle to start will cause excessive strain on the control gear of the fitting itself.

 

[Twinks]

Hah, re fluorescents, if it's the council, at least Derbyshire council, they send someone out to look at the tube that needs replacing, then they send out AN ELECTRICIAN who decides he needs a ladder. So he goes away and then someone delivers a ladder. Then the electrician comes back and fixes the tube. Just the one! I am not joking.