Road Verge Campaign

Signatures so far...

Latest news from the verge: what’s happening where?

Posted June 15 2021

Many of you have been in touch to ask what’s being done for road verges in your local area, and we’re keen to celebrate the steps councils are taking to make road verge management more sustainable and wildlife-friendly. So we wanted to share with you our map highlighting the positive progress being made on our verges...

About the campaign

What you’re doing

What we’re doing

Your questions answered

From road safety to sowing wildflowers on verges, we've put together some commonly asked questions to give you answers...

Management guidelines

Need guidance on how to manage road verges? Check out our publications here, including our Good Verge Guide...

Donate to the campaign

Plantlife relies on donations. The more you give the more wild flowers we can save.

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Our open letter

Dear Sir/Madam

Please adopt Plantlife's guidelines for managing road verges to benefit wild flowers and other nature. I know that road verges are under considerable pressure. Priorities for safety and access, along with budget constraints and difficulties with the collection of litter and grass clippings can mean that enhancing their wildlife value is often low on the list. But we believe that the adoption of a few basic principles will improve our verges for nature, bringing benefits for wildlife, for us and for future generations.

Yours faithfully,

Someone who cares about wildlife on our verges

SIGN OUR LETTER

Sign here

3 easy steps to sign our letter

Find your council via the fields below*
Enter your name and email address
Click "Submit"

* This council may not be your local district or borough council – see "Trouble finding your council?" for the reason below.

Trouble finding your council: When it comes to road verge management, not all Councils are equal. In your area you will have one that has been designated the Highway Authority. Often this will be a County or City Council. They may delegate the work – for example, to your Parish Council or to local contractors – but as the Council with legal responsibility for looking after your roads “the buck stops with them.” These are the Councils listed above and those we need to persuade.

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If you give us your address, we’ll be able to send you information about nature on Road Verges and wildflowers and plants more generally, to help you enjoy them even more.

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Health & Safety

Safety must come first on our roads but with the size of most road verges there should be no conflict between this and conservation. For many verges a regular annual late summer cut and removal of mowings will keep the verge open, safe and thriving with interesting wildlife. We also agree that certain verges must be cut regularly cut to maintain clear lines of visibility – this is particularly crucial at junctions where a ‘visibility splay’ has to be maintained at all times. On some busy roads this also applies to the first metre from the edge of the carriageway.