Council to spend £130k on verge rewilding scheme

Wildflowers on a lawn.
The scheme would cost £128,554.62 in total, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said [PA Media]

Almost £130,000 could be spent by an Essex council on creating wildflower grass verges.

The plan is set to be agreed by Rochford District Council on Thursday, following a trial at the Turret House open space between Hockley and Rayleigh.

Councillors said it would result in highway verges looking better and being more eco-friendly for plants and wildlife.

The authority believed it was a "low risk" scheme that used plants especially designed for clay soils.

Among the 29 verges considered for the project were Ashingdon Road, Rochford, Downhall Park Way, Rayleigh, and Greensward Lane, Hockley.

"The security and successful establishment of the planting is likely to yield a high success rate," council documents read.

They revealed the authority planned to replicate the scheme in parks and nature reserves if the trial was successful.

"This would provide an instant impact approach to rewilding our parks, enable the open spaces team to undertake in-house maintenance of these areas and would increase the pollinator count within our parks and open spaces," the documents revealed.

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