Managing road verges for wildlife

Increasing biodiversity is a goal of the Mayor's Transport Strategy. We want to help existing wildflowers in our grass verges to grow and produce new flowers - this will supply nectar and other food resources, plus shelter for wildlife including bees, butterflies, birds and small mammals.

The variety of plant life will increase over time, helping to support even more wildlife species.

What we're doing

To encourage wildflowers, we've changed the number of times we cut the grass in wildflower verge areas to twice a year, in spring and autumn. This allows wildflowers to grow.

At the same time, we cut the first metre of verge back from the carriageway more regularly to keep long grass from encroaching on roads or pavements.

We also remove grass cuttings from the full width of the verge. Removing grass cuttings helps wildflowers by reducing soil nutrient levels gradually. This gives them a chance to outcompete the grasses that normally dominate when soil nutrient levels are high.