#261: On the verge - investigating soft estate

Britain's roadside verges are a huge area of the country if they are taken cumulatively. They vary in nature, from areas of scrubland and bramble, to woodland, to wide grassy banks, perhaps planted with flowers, and studded with lighting for important junctions. 

They are also likely to contain huge amounts of litter - some of it indescribable. We care so little about these spaces.

These are described as 'liminal spaces' and they have also been given other names, including "soft estate"

Soft Estate is the term used by the Highways Agency to describe the natural habitats that line our motorways and trunk roads, (some 30,000 hectares of land nationally). 

Whilst roads play a major role in opening up land for housing and economic development, their attendant verges offer a genuine refuge for wildlife and a modern form of wilderness in the midst of intense urbanisation and agro-chemical farming. 

Our road network, the site of some of our most carbon-intensive activity, is flanked by Britain's largest unofficial nature reserve.

Source: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FJ005797%2F1#:~:text=Soft%20Estate%20is%20the%20term,30%2C000%20hectares%20of%20land%20nationally).

Plantlife has a section of its website exploring the management of grasslands by road sides, and there has been much written about the (mis)management of these areas and the fact that Councils are accused of neglecting them. On less busy roads, many communities will have a 'local hero' or two who gives up their spare time to clean up their local area.

National Highways have the job of looking after this significant area of land.

There has recently been a lot of effort made to encourage people to care about them, with a campaign featuring the voices of the animals who are affected.

Check the details of the Lend a Paw campaign. You can see the various visual assets which form part of the scheme here.

The focus is on some key audiences.

The campaign is set to reach all drivers, but the key focus is on:

• families (traveling with children and snacks in the car, with the opportunity to teach values/habits) - 8.1m people (1.3m claimed litterers)
• young drivers (who are inexperienced/overconfident but like to follow social norms) - 6.4m people (1m claimed litterers)
• commercial drivers (driving long journeys and treating lorries as their home/office) - 803k people (406k claimed litterers)

Details on the litter strategy and how to report litter are here.

I would not recommend that these areas are visited by students as they are not safe places.

Google Street View images sometimes show up the litter or issues in areas - particularly after grass or hedge cutting has recently taken place.

One additional story here is the apperarance of fruit trees, which have grown from food waste that has been discarded. This is 

In Iceland some years ago, there was a deliberate campaign to ask for motorists to throw something out of the car window.

Image: Alan Parkinson - verges near Rougham, Norfolk