Verges

Carlton Miniott is a pretty village with a lovely school and lots of traffic heading for the A1, and is actually the location of the railway station they call Thirsk! Katy Rose who lives there has campaigned successfully for closure of crossing points on the A19 after a crash there killed her mother. Now she has turned her attention to the question of cutting our roadside verges.

You may have seen the teams out around the villages, one on a big sit-on mower and a second worker with a strimmer to trim the edges. The question is whether they are too often and too early in the season.

The British Ecological Society says that almost all our wildflower meadows have disappeared, and quite apart from beauty, colour and character, they are vital for the bees, pollinators who are an essential link in growing our crops. Rural verges are an ideal place for flowers to grow. The conservation charity Plantlife has a “cut less. cut later” campaign. Some verges need to be cut for road safety, for instance to give visibility at road junctions, but Plantlife says that all we need is to cut 2 metres (6′ 6″) back from the road….