Types of designated verge
Roadside verges can provide a home for many important species of wildflowers, insects and other animals.
Nationwide, there are around 200,000ha of rural road verge which currently support over 700 species of wild flowers, including 87 threatened with extinction.
Both rural and urban verges can often be the last areas of declining habitats, such as woodland edges, ditches, meadows and downland, and provide important wildlife corridors, as well as being a haven for pollinators such as bees.
One of our verges contains 68% of the UK population of Spiked Rampion, protected under Schedule 8 of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.
There are two types of designated verge in East Sussex. Wildlife Verges and Meadow Verges.
Within East Sussex we have 176 locations which are designated Verges which we manage for the special wildlife they support, and to help us comply with our legal duties to conserve and enhance biodiversity, as set out in the 2006 Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act.