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To: Hampshire County Council

Stop cutting our roadside verges for our wildlife

Currently, pollinators are in widespread decline; many of our well-loved bees and butterflies, amongst other important wildlife facing the very real threat of extinction in coming years.

By reducing the amount our roadside verges here in Hampshire are cut, and instead adopting Plantlife's wildlife-friendly management guidelines, the blank monoculture's our verges currently are would be transformed into strips of wildflower meadow.

These would provide habitats for invertebrates that would feed the wider ecosystem. They'd connect up isolated wildlife populations, letting them travel into a wider area. They'd save us money-Dorset County Council have done this and have already saved £350,000. They'd contribute towards government targets (40% of all land restoration targets for 2040 would be met if a similar approach was implemented nationwide). And they'd help in the fight against Climate Change, with healthy grasslands/wildflower meadows absorbing Carbon 3x faster than forests.

Why is this important?

British wildlife is in trouble. 41% of our species have declined since the 1970s, even the ones we see everyday. House Sparrows for example, which we’ve now lost over 21,400,000 of since the 1970s.

Invertebrates have been hit especially hard, and are declining eight times faster than mammals, birds and reptiles, due to loss of wildflower-rich habitat, 97% of which (from 1960s levels) has vanished under strimmer's and lawn-mowers.

To fight these declines, and create miles of brilliant new Carbon sinks in Hampshire County, I'm proposing the council adopt Plantlife's wildlife-friendly management guidelines, which would save time, money, and have huge economic and environmental benefits.

Hampshire, UK

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2021-11-08 07:26:41 +0000

100 signatures reached

2021-11-05 22:18:21 +0000

50 signatures reached

2021-10-12 22:02:52 +0100

25 signatures reached

2021-10-08 23:55:13 +0100

10 signatures reached