West Berkshire Council Press Release - Wildlife

Press Release - 13th March 2019 from West Berkshire Council

​West Berkshire Council working to improve the local environment for wildlife
Roadside verges can be a real haven for nature. During the winter, West Berkshire Council promised to look at the best way of managing the district’s grass verges and protecting the flora, fauna and wildlife that inhabit them.
Some verges, such as those at busy junctions where visibility is key, have to be cut back for safety. Others have the potential to be precious linear nature reserves for flora and fauna. Those left to grow naturally can be a place where wild flowers, pollinators, birds and small mammals thrive.
This spring West Berkshire Council will trial a new approach by creating a wildflower verge in two areas. These are on the A4 near Halfway, between Newbury and Hungerford and the A4 between Ufton and Aldermaston. The results wont be visible immediately as the verges have to be prepared and sown over the spring and summer but they will hopefully bloom early in the following spring.  Lessons learned from the trial will be used to inform our management of verges in the future.
Jeanette Clifford, West Berkshire Council’s executive member for Transport and Countryside, visited one of the sites this weekend. Councillor Clifford said: ‘With hundreds of miles of verges in West Berkshire, this is an important project that we hope will enrich our environment. Not so many years ago, we could all witness the passing of the seasons in our roadside verges, and, of course, they were particularly glorious in spring and summer. We would like to see that diversity and complexity return and once again experience the colours, scents and buzz of living verges.’