Bromley Council is trialling a new, nature friendly, management regime for grass verges at these 11 sites across the borough, the ward name is shown in brackets.
- Addington Road (West Wickham)
- Beadon Road (Bromley Town)
- Copers Cope Road (Beckenham Town Copers Cope)
- Court Road (Orpington)
- Downs Hill/Ravensbourne Avenue (Shortlands and Park Langley/Bromley Town/Beckenham Copes Cope)
- Northfield Avenue (St Mary Cray)
- Ormonde Avenue (Farnborough and Crofton)
- Pickhurst Lane and Pickhurst Mead (Hayes and Coney Hall / West Wickham)
- Rangefield Road Footpath (Plaistow)
- River Pool Walk (Penge and Cator)
- Warren Road (Chelsfield)
Take a look at our Nature Friendly Verges locations.
These nature friendly verges have now received their first annual cut as part of the trial and will now be left to grow throughout the rest of the year with other maintenance activities continuing. The next annual cut will take place in either September or October 2024, in the second and final year of the two-year trial period.
In cutting these sites, we have ensured that the cut height is no less than 5cm to safeguard any invertebrates. These verges will now remain untouched until Spring 2024, where the verge will be cut on its edge, with ‘picture frame’ cutting and safety ‘sight lines’ cutting resuming during the growing season.
The trial, which started in March 2023, will last for an initial period of two years before the council reviews its impact. We have chosen this two-year trial period as it is likely to take two growing seasons for wildflowers in the verges to establish.
By allowing verges to grow, the council expects that biodiversity could be improved in the borough, natural carbon storage could be increased, with the impacts of pollution potentially decreasing. Grass verges can act as wildlife corridors connecting habitats and greenspaces, increase floral diversity and increase pollinator habitats, which is good news for bees, butterflies, and invertebrates.
Get involved
We are keen to hear from those who live, work or study in the borough, and from those who visit, to find out what you think of our nature friendly verges.
We encourage all our residents to fill out a short, online survey to tell us what you think.
Q&A session
We held an online Q&A session on this project on Thursday 6 April 2023 at 6:30pm.
The feedback we’ve had already from both our session and survey has been outstanding. Here are some of the frequently asked questions that have emerged.
Read more about the decision to proceed with the verges trial.
More background about the trial.
Video of Councillor Aisha Cuthbert, Executive Councillor for Environment, talking about the launch of the Nature Friendly Verges trial, and Steven Lofting of idverde putting the signposts in the locations around the borough.