There were two complications raised by officers, namely that wild flowers need a nutrient poor soil to thrive and many urban verges will have rich soils and verges alongside busy high-speed roads might have high nitrate levels arising from Nitrogen Oxide pollution from petrol or diesel cars. However the first problem could be solved by the removal of top soil and the second problem will diminish as the current UK car fleet is replaced by electric vehicles.
The trial will take 3 years to see if it is fully successful, but a preliminary report will be brought to a committee discussion this autumn based on work this summer on the selected trial verges.