HCC’s Trail for Re-wilding VergesThere will be an imminent commencement of a trial by Hampshire County Council for the re-wilding of highway verges on a site in the parish, on the C18, Petersfield Road, near Colemore.
This is aimed at investigating ways in which biodiversity of our highway verges can be improved and also reducing the cutting regimes with a consequential on-going cost saving.
C18 Petersfield Road Site
A number of alternative pre-treatment methods will be used to establish the cost and effectiveness of each. These will include close mowing and scarification, application of herbicide and stripping of the vegetation to leave bare soil.
Treatments will involve over-seeding with a mix that has been approved by the County HCC’s Trail for Re-wilding Verges Ecology Team and laying of a pre-sown mat.
Also included within the trial is proposed to treat the visibility splay to Barnet Side Lane, on the south side of the C18, with a low growing mix, to establish if this would allow us to reduce our visibility cutting programme.
Map link: Re-wilding of Highways Verges