Restore Verges in 3 Shropshire Parishes

The Restoring Roadside Verges in 3 Shropshire Parishes (3P) Project, a Shropshire Crowdfunded initiative, recently celebrated its success with an end of Project Conference, attended by over 70 delegates, at the Silvester Horne Institute (SHI) in Church Stretton. Under the umbrella of the Restoring Shropshire Verges Project (RSVP), and working in partnership with the Shropshire Highways Department, the project focused on restoring roadside verges in 3 Shropshire parishes and brought together volunteers from the civil parishes of Church Stretton, Hope Bowdler & Wistanstow. The Headlines Delivering over 500 hours of volunteering, the intentional planting of over 400 wildflower plugs, the broadcasting of more than 5Kg’s of mixed wildflower seeds, and the conservation of around 10,000m2 of wildlife habitat, the 3P Project placed a heavy emphasis on offering Advice, Information and Learning for existing and potential volunteers by: • delivering guided verge walks • supporting verge wildflower surveys • organising seed, plugs and plant swaps • designing and hosting a resource-rich website • producing and distributing information leaflets and posters • hosting a half day workshop at the Mayfair Centre in September 2025 • facilitating a whole day end of Project Conference at the SHI in March 2026 The Funding In total over £4000 was raised from 40 ‘backers’. This comprised over £1500 in individual donations (including a £1000 grant from the Stretton Focus Community Fund), plus £2530 ‘matched’ funding from Shropshire Council via the UK Shared Prosperity Funded, Community Action Fund. The Verges The roadside verges in the three parishes are diverse, and offered opportunities to develop and demonstrate exemplary verge practice. Church Stretton Parish includes verges in the town and in the villages of All Stretton and Little Stretton. Wistanstow Parish offers verges in a rural landscape that include the hamlets of Bushmoor, Woolston, & Strefford. The verges at Hope Bowdler Parish extend either side of a busy through road and are closely linked to those in the parishes of Cardington, Rushbury/Wall under Heywood, Eaton and Ticklerton. Volunteers from the 3 parishes formed a Community of Practice – a group of people who share a common interest, profession, or passion, and learn together by interacting regularly to build knowledge, develop expertise, and solve problems in that domain, essentially creating a ‘doing and learning environment’. Verge Practice Lessons Learnt Planned verge activities need to be flexible – creating a ‘depending on the weather’ ‘Activities Calendar’ is a useful way to keep track of the project plan and monitor progress over the year. Engaging the local community can be both rewarding and challenging – while the Project has inspired the energy and enthusiasm of the volunteer groups, our ability to recruit ‘new blood’ remains a challenge. We hope that the success of the Project will make it one that people who live in the local area will continue to engage with. Budgeting for verge restoration continues to be a challenge – due to factors beyond our control (in the main the wet weather), delivering activities ‘on time’ can be a significant challenge and necessitates contingency planning and budgetary flexibility. Don’t underestimate the generosity and talent of volunteers – over the last 18 months the capacity of our volunteers to design and self-manage the Project activities provides evidence of their resourcefulness, tenacity and commitment. The Wider Implications The Project is an exemplar in Shropshire, showing what is possible across the county. Along with many Local Authorities, Shropshire is struggling to maintain services under current budget constraints. This is further exacerbated by the rural nature of the county with over 5,000 km of roads. The 3P Project also demonstrated what can be achieved by engagement with small groups of enthusiastic community-based volunteers, and RSVP has already submitted the learning as a case study to be included in the Shropshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), illustrating the benefits of hyper-local activities funded by small amounts of seed corn funding. The Next Steps In April 2026 RSVP were delighted to secure funding from the Shropshire Hills National Landscape Conservation Fund (SHNL) for a new and exciting project entitled the 'Restoring Verges in 6 Shropshire Parishes – the 6P Project! Our aim is to build on the learning from the Shropshire Crowdfunded ‘Restore Verges in 3 Shropshire Parishes Project’ (September 2024 – March 2026), and extend our practice from Church Stretton, Hope Bowdler and Wistanstow across the SHNL footprint into the Parishes of Edgton, Lydbury North and Bishop’s Castle. These 6 parishes, will form a ‘Parish cluster’ working together to further develop long linear meadow verges as a connected habitat for the growth and diversity of wildflowers, invertebrates, birds and small mammals, and support the delivery of the County wide Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS). A Call for Action RSVP will use the evidence produced by the 3P and 6P Projects to influence policy and the future management of Shropshire’s roadside verges and will, continue to campaign to ensure that the restoration of roadside verges is included in Highways contracts, and acknowledge and support the work of verge volunteer groups across the county. There’s lots of information on the RSVP website and our Board members are happy to support anyone wanting to participate in a verge restoration project – just get in touch! Email address: [email protected] Restoring Shropshire’s Verges Project (RSVP) Website: https://www.restoringshropshirevergesproject.org.uk/ The 3P Final Project Report is available here: https://www.spacehive.com/restore-verges-in-3-shropshireparishes#/deliveryReport. Mike White Board Member, RSVP 13 April 2026 Special Thanks to Sian Lovegrove who was behind the camera at the 3P Final Conference on 13 March 2026

There's still time to book your place at the ...... Three Parishes (3Ps) Verge Restoration Project Conference Friday 13 March 2026, Silvester Horne Institute, Church Stretton To book contact us on: [email protected] or use the contact form on the RSVP website Programme 10.00 am Registration, tea & coffee 10.30 am Chair Cllr David Vasmer, Portfolio Holder for Highways and Environment: Welcome and Highways Plan 10.45 am Shropshire Council Deputy Leader Alex Wagner & Sarah Dodds Crowdfund Shropshire: Support for the Three Parish Project (3Ps Project) 11.00 am Charlie Bell , Chair Restoring Shropshire’s Verges (RSVP): The RSVP story so far 11.20 am Janet Cobb, Board member Restoring Shropshire’s Verges (RSVP): LNRS update and RSVP volunteer site stories: case studies 11.40 am Peter Carty, Mike White, Lorna Taylor & Meg Fryer: 3Ps Project results: Bushmoor, Hope Bowdler & All Stretton – Report findings 12.15 pm Lunch & networking 1.15 pm Volunteer experience: Aiden Foster: Hope Bowdler/Andy Gannon: Bushmoor/Christopher Stratton: All Stretton 1.30 pm Caroline Uff: Rank grass = Happy insects 1.50 pm Ian Cheeseborough, entomologist: Invertebrates on roadside verges 2.30 pm Rob Lee - Wildflower nursery: Wildflower talk 3.00 pm Jenna Shaw, Shropshire Wildlife Trust: De-Pave Project 3.25 pm Cllr film Denbighshire: https://youtu.be/MxLrso6CDuQ?feature=shared 3.30 pm Q & A Session 4.00 pm Close To book contact us on: [email protected] or use the contact form on the RSVP website New Restoring Shropshire’s verges Project (RSVP) website: www.restoringshropshirevergesproject.org.uk This is a free event but donations to cover catering costs would be very welcome

We are delighted to let you know that the Restore Verges in Three Shropshire Parishes Project has exceeded fundraising target! Our crowdfunding campaign closed on 12 August and Pledges from our 40 Backers amounted to exactly £4500. These funds (less the Crowdfunding platform expenses) will be transferred to RSVP in about 3 weeks and we will begin making our plans to move the project forward in September. Many Thanks Again to Everyone who made a Pledge, and to the Stretton Focus for their Community Grant, and to the Shropshire Council Shared Prosperity Community Fund. Clicking this link will take you to all the detail: https://www.spacehive.com/restore-verges-in-3-shropshire-parishes With Very Best Wishes And Thank You Mike White Project Leader Restore Verges in Three Shropshire Parishes Restoring Shropshire’s Verges Project (RSVP)

Hello There We are delighted to let you know that with just one week to go the Restore Verges in Three Shropshire Parishes Project has exceeded its target! This link takes you to the Project Page: https://www.spacehive.com/restore-verges-in-3-shropshire-parishes Many Thanks Again for your support! And Special Thanks to the Stretton Focus magazine who this week pledged us a £1000 Community Grant to take us over the line! The Campaign will remain open until 12 August, so please spread the word as we continue to invite pledges over the next few days. This is the link: https://www.spacehive.com/restore-verges-in-3-shropshire-parishes We will begin making our plans to move the project forward in September. So, if you'd like to be kept updated simply reply 'Yes' to this email and we'll add you to the RSVP mailing list. With Very Best Wishes And Thank You Mike White Project Leader Restore Verges in Three Shropshire Parishes Restoring Shropshire's Verges Project (RSVP)