Why our town is verging on an eyesore
Horsham Town grass verges on all routes into and around the town are an eyesore. The Guildford Road, the Warnham Road and North Parade are particularly dishevelled. By contrast the Albion Way bushes are in good colour except where the ground ivy is spreading across the carriageway.
The poor state of Horsham’s roadside verges and central reservations on the dual carriageways and slip roads may be someone’s misguided idea of rewilding. Rewilding is the idea of a progressive approach to conservation. It is not about allowing verges to deteriorate into a tangled and unsightly mess of overgrown grass and litter. What do other towns and districts do to make their roadways look good to their town’s folk and visitors? Some of the best examples of well-kept verges found in the South are around Weymouth in Dorset. Others will surely exist, but why can’t Horsham have colourful, litter free roadside verges so that we all feel good about ourselves and our town?
Dorset in 2014 with a mild winter followed by a warm, wet spring saw a ferocious growth of cow parsley, nettles and dense grass along hundreds of miles of road. Repeated cuttings were needed to hold back this matted growth, but the task overwhelmed them. Dorset sought help which advised a simple process, cut infrequently, ideally, just twice a year in spring, and then late summer once plants have bloomed and seeded. Grass cuttings are almost always left where they fall and over time the resulting mulch increases the fertility of the soil, meaning grass grows with increased vigour and needs to be cut more frequently. The big difference was that Dorset was advised to cut the grass and remove the clippings. This gradually reduces the fertility of the soil and prevents a buildup of mulch. The cut and collect method breaks the cycle.
The science is that as fertility declines in a soil, biodiversity increases, this is because in the natural system, in more fertile soils, a few species dominate and they swamp and smother everything else.
Dorset saw the dramatic effects of this maintenance regime as suffocated seed banks have been allowed to spring back to life. Verges provide a valuable space that can be put to use, creating much-needed wildlife habitats and space to many familiar wild flowers that are now becoming threatened. Weymouth has now attracted many more butterflies and bees. This method has delivered cost savings in the management of roadside verges across Dorset, reducing the annual budget from nearly £1million to £650k in five years. It is also backed by the country’s highways authorities.
Maybe our roadside verge management should take a look at this approach. There seems to be a huge opportunity to change what we currently do. Why not try a different way to bring colour back to the roadsides on the approaches to our town and brighten up people’s lives with wild flowers and butterflies and bees and be environmentally friendly?