Some councils do ‘ave ’em It’s not often you see local council planning and wildlife go hand in hand. But that is exactly what happened with the Weymouth Relief Road. Cutting through spectacular landscapes rich in wildlife is something that can displace it and condemn it to death. Most of our wildlife lives within a territory and it survives within it for many reasons.
If it is an adult it has clearly learnt where to feed and how to stay safe.
Removing that space, both confuses and harms the animals. It displaces them from their territory. Forcing them to move causes several problems.
- They may not be able to find new food in their new location.
- They may not be able to find shelter, in fact, there may not even be any.
- Exploring can be costly as it involves roads and other hazards
- They may not be safe from either humans or other wild animals.
Any wild animal in the UK that has reached adulthood is clearly able to find all these essentials and has learnt to survive.
If it was up to us at Save Me, someone would design a relief road with bridges that attract wildlife and create a link to the land it once called home.
This is one such bridge – The Lorton Lane Bridge.
So far around 35,000 native trees and shrubs have been planted, and 57,000 square metres of grassland have been seeded to transform the bare slopes and cuttings of the relief road.
Most recently, Hawthorn, Blackthorn and various wild rose species have been planted on the Lorton Lane green bridge, and Hazel, Oak, Ash, Wild Cherry and Willow species are being planted alongside the road in the Lorton area.
{youtube}IHSsvV7sKcs{/youtube}
The Ridgeway Bridge
Work on the Ridgeway bridge. This photo shows some of the final topsoil placed on the eastern approach to the bridge.
This area and the sides of the bridge will be planted with trees and scrub, which is why the topsoil here is much thicker than the Ridgeway road cuttings – which have a thinner layer of topsoil to suit wildflower establishment.
The western Ridgeway bridge approach can’t be completed until traffic is switched from the A354 onto the new relief road, this is because the bridge approach will be in what is now the main carriageway.
Pedestrians, cyclists and horses can still use the paths and bridleways in the area by going along the signposted South West Coast Path diversion, which is also the diversion for the Jubilee Trail.
