If the council of a parish …. represent to a local highway authority … (b) that an unlawful encroachment has taken place on a roadside waste comprised in a highway for which they are the highway authority, it is the duty of the local highway authority, unless satisfied that the representations are incorrect to take proceedings accordingly and they may do so in their own name.

It's common to see this sign in rural areas and where the road is pretty narrow. If you are driving in a country lane, then you should see this sign often. The police are more likely to put up the "soft verges" sign than some other drivers. When did this sign first come into action? The extended area of EcoGrid now acts as a drainage system, to stop rainwater or stormwater from building and flooding. It also reduces the risk of vehicles tipping over due to soft ground. Installing EcoGrid E50 on the soft verge not only provides support so that the highway won’t erode and expands the width of the road and aids drainage and refuse areas. It gives HGV vehicles more room to manoeuvre on narrow roads and eliminates the risk of a tip-over.These ‘roadside strips’ are now more commonly referred to as ‘roadside verges’. It is important that strips of roadside verge should be safeguarded from any illegal attempts to inclose them for the following reasons.

We have provided materials to many Local Authorities for multiple highway projects. Highways are particular and a bit different because it is public areas and can have many types of vehicles driving over on a daily basis. Using our EcoGrid E50 is the best option. Any council may assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of any highway in their area for which they are not the highway authority, including any roadside waste which forms part of it. We have introduced EcoGrid E50, the heavy-duty solution that can achieve a lot, such as highways, lorry parking, aircraft landing area etc. Still, we also look after customers with lighter-duty projects. While EcoGrid E50 would be a bit of an overkill for them, EcoGrid also offers E30 and E40 for projects like garden walkways or domestic driveways. Diagram 556.1 provides warning to road users of soft verges on the side of the road. This reduces the likelihood of the vehicles pulling over and banking out on the road side.Or they may be the boundary between the inclosed land and a strip of manorial waste alongside the highway which has not been dedicated as part of it. Thus the presumption of dedication arising from the public user of greens along the side of a highway between the fences was rebutted in one instance by evidence of an entry in the court rolls of the manor that the greens were waste belonging to the manor, and of the greens being treated by the lord of the manor as his private property. Friern Barnet UDC v Richardson (1898) 62 JP 547 CA. Sometimes a road does not run between fences, but across open common or manorial waste; and in that case the presumption of dedication between fences does not apply. Neeld v Hendon UDC (1899) 63 JP 724. A highway authority may attach to any such licence such conditions as they consider necessary to ensure the safety and convenience of passengers in the highway and to prevent traffic [‘traffic’ includes pedestrians and animals, s329 Highways Act 1980] therein being delayed, to prevent any nuisance or annoyance being caused to the owners or occupiers of other premises adjoining the highway.

It is to be borne in mind that the questions who owns the soil of the roadside verge, and whether it is part of the highway, are quite distinct. Regardless of who owns the soil, the public may have a right of passage over it, ie it may be part of the highway. Consequently, if a public right of passage over such a verge is claimed, it is no answer for the adjoining owner to say ‘the land belongs to me’ since even if it does, it may still be part of the highway. This presumption that a highway extends over the whole space between fences may however be rebutted by proof of facts from which it may be inferred that the fences were not put up as boundaries of the highway; thus they may be part of the original boundary of a close of land through which the highway had been made. AG and Croydon RDC v Moorson-Roberts (1908) 72 JP 123. The road will have a soft verge in many cases (especially in the countryside). We have a solution to eliminate the soft verge and reinforce the road edge.

soft verge

Every EcoGrid has its own axle loading capacity with our EcoGrid E50 having a massive 1000 tonnes plus capability when filled with an angular aggregate, ideal for highways where a tough robustly tested product is a must. The sign has also been adapted to indicate a watercourse alongside the road. This may be a stream running in the gutter, as is found in the streets of the City of Wells, or something more substantial. See Quayside for more information.

Sometimes the roadside strips belong, not to the owner of the adjoining property, but to the lord of the manor, and are part of the manorial waste. In such cases they may or may not be subject to rights of common, but in either event they may be held to have been dedicated to public passage, in which case also they are part of the highway. See East v Berkshire County Council (1911) 76 JP 35; and Evelyn v Mirrielees (1900), 17 TLR 152, CA; 65 JP 131n). Traffic in right hand lane of slip road joining the main carriageway has priority over left hand lane This leads to erosion and break-up of the road edge from heavier vehicles and rainwater resulting in multiple potential risks:

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The legal remedies available to local authorities are described in Rights of Way – a guide to law and practice (John Riddall and John Trevelyan, 4th edition, 2007). With the loss of most of our traditional meadow land through agricultural change, our largest nature reserve is now represented by roadside verges, an important habitat which extends to perhaps half a million acres. They are a vital reservoir of wildlife, especially of wild flowers. (Soil Association 1992). In cases where no footway has been constructed alongside the metalled road, the verge enables pedestrians to proceed with greater safety than they would on the metalled road.