Roadside Nature Reserves (RNRs) have unique cutting regimes to conserve species-rich plant areas and plants of national or county importance.
We are responsible for maintaining most grass verges alongside adopted roads and footpaths. Exceptions to this are called ‘roadside nature reserves’, managed under agreement by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.
Across Lincolnshire, there are 65 verges and 159 roadside local wildlife sites. We are working with the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust to expand these or identify other ways highway verges can be managed to support wildlife and biodiversity.
View more information on the Lincolnshire roadside nature reserves.
We don’t cut the following areas; verges not adjacent to the road, village greens, parks and open spaces, cemeteries, churchyards and trunk roads such as the A1 and most of the A46 in Lincolnshire.
Grass cutting
We balance the need to keep the highway safe with being sensitive to local ecology and wildlife.
We limit the amount of grass-cutting we do. Still, we need to maintain visibility at junctions, ensure road and pavement widths are not reduced, and provide a refuge on the highway verge for pedestrians in rural areas where pavements aren’t present.
Our seasonal cutting programme does not currently remove grass clippings.
Areas we cut
In urban areas, we work with district, borough and parish councils to undertake a minimum of 3 cuts per year of the highway verge. Some district, borough and parish councils supplement these safety cuts with amenity cuts to keep things tidy.
In rural areas, we carry out 3 cuts per year on rural roads to the first 1.1m width (from the edge of the road), which is the standard width of the blade on the tractors, on:
- areas providing visibility at junctions and bends
- a strip on either side of footways where possible within the highway.
Verges are often wider than 1.1m, and vegetation beyond this point remains left mainly for wildlife.
Our equipment is not able to cut very narrow verges due to the size of the machinery we use.
View our grass cutting programme.