Management Guidelines (and other resources)

Working with highways authorities, industry, the public and conservation partners, we want to see all verges managed for wild flowers - and the wildlife they support.

The adoption of a few basic principles can significantly improve the biodiversity of our verges. There are nearly 500,000 kilometres of rural road verge in the UK. This is equal to half of our remaining flower-rich grasslands and meadows: their potential is enormous.

Managing Grassland Road Verges

A best practical guide for highways managers, road engineers, operations managers, landscape architects and all those engaged with verge management and creation. It covers those aspects previously described in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges wildflower handbook and focuses on the management of lowland and upland grassland verges. Download a copy here.

The Good Verge Guide

A thorough introduction to all things road verge for both amateur and professional audiences, The Good Verge Guide is our accessible and practical guidance on nature-friendly road verge management. These guidelines have already been adopted by several local authorities and used widely by local volunteer verge groups. Download a copy here.

Rare plants found on road verges

Want to know more about road verge habitats and the botanical gems they can contain? Here’s our publication Road verges: the last refuge for some of our rarest wild flowers and plants. This highlights the top 10 most threatened plants that grow on road verges, and includes a list of known plants found on a road verge in the UK. Download a copy here.

Case studies

Five case studies are available to download (click each to download a PDF):

Signs

The following printable PDFs can be downloaded to produce posters and signs: