Dear Sir or Madam,

If you run an ecological protection scheme for road verges in your
area, please could you provide me with the following details:

a) what protection measures a verge receives when it is included in
the scheme

b) the list of verges covered by the scheme (and their locations -
road name/number and six figure OS grid references would be fine)

c) for each verge, the specific reasons why the verge has been
included in the scheme - i.e. the notable species found there, or
the NVC community present

If you do not run such a scheme in your area, but you are aware
that another body does, please could you refer me to them instead.

Many thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Ms Davis

Freedom of Information Reference: 07719EIR

Subject: Request for information regarding protection scheme for road
verges

Due to heavy workloads Lincolnshire County Council will be extending your
EIR request to 40 days.

Please except my apologies for the delay and expect to hear from me in due
course.

Yours Sincerely

Shannon Bennett

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Dear Lincolnshire County Council,

On 2 April you emailed me to tell me that I would receive a reply
to my request within 40 days. Could you let me have an update on
your progress and a revised date by which you expect to reply?

Thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Ms Davis,

At this stage we do not have a revised date for you, however, we are looking into this request for you and I will complete this as soon as possible.

Kind Regards

Joe Hemming
Business Support Assistant
Legal Services

Tel no: 01522 55(3355)
Email address: [email address]
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Dear Ms Davis

Freedom of Information Reference: 07719EIR

Subject: Request for information regarding protection scheme for road
verges

Thank you for your recent request for information received by this office
on 06 March 2009. Lincolnshire County Council would like to appologise for
the delay in sending you this information, due to heavy work loads.
We should be able to provide it by Friday if this is acceptable. Please
accept our apologies for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Yours sincerely

Rachel Starmer
Resources Directorate
Lincolnshire County Council

[1][Lincolnshire County Council request email]

The information we have supplied to you may contain intellectual property
rights of Lincolnshire County Council. Your use of the information must be
strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as
amended), or other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not
re-use this information for any commercial purpose.

If you would like to re-use this information for any commercial purpose
you must make a formal request to us under the Re-Use of Public Sector
Information Regulations 2005. Please email us at
[2][email address]

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MR/07719/MR

Dear Ms Davis

REQUEST REF NO. 07719 - EIR
Request for Information
Subject - Road verges Ecological Protection Scheme

Further to your email dated 6 March 2009 regarding your request for information relating to ecological protection schemes for road verges in Lincolnshire.

Lincolnshire County Council was the first Highway Authority to designate some of its roadside verges as protected for their biological interest in 1966. In 2008 the title of Protected Roadside Verges was changed to Roadside Nature Reserves (RNR)to more accurately reflect their status. The County Council funds the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust (LWT) to manage its RNR's to protect their biological value.

Lincolnshire County Council has 64 RNR's totalling 85.6km out of a total of c17,000km of verge within Lincolnshire. Of these, five verges are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which amount to 13.3km. There are also six verges of Local Wildlife Site (LWS) status amounting to 7.5km.

In response to your questions;
QA. What protection measures a verge receives when it is included in the scheme?
AA. There is no legal protection to RNR's as they are all on highway with a right of public access hence the recent change of title. What RNR's do benefit from is, recognition by Highways who must consult the Wildlife Trust before carrying out any works on RNR's. RNR's each have an appointed 'Wayside Warden' who monitors the condition of the verge. RNR's which are designated as SSSI's are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The Wildlife Trust uses its funding from the County Council to mow and remove arisings from the verges to maintain them as grassland. There is a voluntary RNR Officer appointed by the LWT one day a week to manage RNR's.

QB. The list of verges covered by the scheme (and their locations road name/number and six figure OS grid references would be fine)?
AB. The attached list details all RNR's in Lincolnshire, including the grid references of each end.

QC. For each verge, the specific reasons why the verge has been included in the scheme i.e. the notable species found there, or the NVC community present?
AC. The RNR's were originally designated on the basis of the local knowledge of county naturalists for the presence of diverse or rare plant communities.

The status of RNR's was reviewed in 2008 (see attachment) in recognition of the fact that some had lost some of their diversity since designation and there there were other verges without protection that may be a floristically rich. It is expected that the minimum qualification for RNR status is to meet LWS criteria.

The aspiration is to survey the flora of all verges in Lincolnshire as funding becomes available. A start has been made through the winning of Countdown funding from Natural England to promote floristically rich grassland within the limestone area of Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Rutland. The bulk of the native limestone grassland in the project area is on road verges in Lincolnshire and a programme of surveying all verges in that area is just beginning.

If you have further queries relating to this matter please quote the Reference number above.

Regards.
for Director for Development

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Dear Lincolnshire County Council,

Many thanks for your reply, which comprehensively answers parts a)
and b) of my query. Do you plan to send any further information in
response to part c) ? If so, that's great - I look forward to it.
If not, can you confirm that you've supplied all the information
you currently hold which relates to part c) ?

Many thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please could you let me have an update on your progress in
responding to my request. I've not heard from you since emailing
you on 15 May?

Yours faithfully,

Susan Davis

Dear Ms Davis

I have searched through our records of Freedom of Information requests and I have been unable to find the request that you mention. In order to aid my search, do you have an FOI reference number at all. This would have been sent to you in an email of acknowledgement.

Yours sincerely

Rachel Starmer
Resources Directorate
Lincolnshire County Council

[Lincolnshire County Council request email]

The information we have supplied to you may contain intellectual property rights of Lincolnshire County Council. Your use of the information must be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended), or other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.
If you would like to re-use this information for any commercial purpose you must make a formal request to us under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005. Please email us at [email address]

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Dear Rachel,

The reference number is 07719EIR

I've also copied my email of 15 May below to assist you.

Yours sincerely,

Susan Davis

Email of 15 May:

Dear Lincolnshire County Council,

Many thanks for your reply, which comprehensively answers parts a)
and b) of my query. Do you plan to send any further information in
response to part c) ? If so, that's great - I look forward to it.
If not, can you confirm that you've supplied all the information
you currently hold which relates to part c) ?

Many thanks,

Susan Davis

Dear Ms Davis

Please find below the response that was sent to you on 20.05.09.

Yours sincerely

Rachel Starmer
Resources Directorate
Lincolnshire County Council

[Lincolnshire County Council request email]

The information we have supplied to you may contain intellectual property rights of Lincolnshire County Council. Your use of the information must be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended), or other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.
If you would like to re-use this information for any commercial purpose you must make a formal request to us under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005. Please email us at [email address]

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Dear Rachel,

Many thanks. Could you confirm that this is the only information
which your authority holds on the ecological interest of these
verges?

Yours sincerely,

Susan Davis

Dear Ms Davis

I can confirm that this is the only information that Lincolnshire County Council holds.

Yours sincerely

Rachel Starmer
Resources Directorate
Lincolnshire County Council

[Lincolnshire County Council request email]

The information we have supplied to you may contain intellectual property rights of Lincolnshire County Council. Your use of the information must be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended), or other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.
If you would like to re-use this information for any commercial purpose you must make a formal request to us under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005. Please email us at [email address]

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