VOLUNTEERS, parish councils and landowners could all become partners with North Yorkshire County Council in monitoring and maintaining the network of roadside verges, the authority has been told.

The council is to undertake a wide-ranging review of its policy on verge maintenance following a detailed report by a research group of members who consulted external organisations with a practical interest in the issue.

The report from the environmental services scrutiny committee acknowledged that verges could be a haven for plants, animals and birds but pointed out that a relatively undisturbed habitat could encourage the growth of ragwort, which was poisonous to horses.

The county council was asked to investigate the use of chemicals to suppress or reduce weed growth, but only in cases where it could be shown that there was little or no risk to humans, animals or other plants.

Other suggestions in the report included encouraging the Government to run an anti-litter campaign, seeking additional central funding for improved verge maintenance in the national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty, discouraging farmers and others from driving on verges and making more room on them for walkers, horse riders and cyclists.

The report said safety for all roads users must be the main consideration in verge maintenance but planned management was impossible without a database of information covering the countywide network.

On ownership of verges, there was scope for extending the national parks' practice of involving volunteers and parish councils in monitoring and maintaining verges to encourage community pride. When an area of road or verge became redundant, the viability of transferring it to the adjoining landowner should be assessed.

The research group warned that the county council had only limited funds for verge maintenance and it was essential to spend the money wisely. The authority should investigate whether savings could be made by redirecting money away from verges which probably received too much maintenance to those which did not get enough.

There was room to seek more grant aid towards the building and maintenance of verges and a campaign should be launched to promote sponsorship from external organisations or businesses.

The report added that it was important to strike a balance between manicured verges which looked like lawns and those which were left alone to support animal and plant life.

The research group which produced the report consulted English Nature, the two national park authorities, the National Farmers' Union, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group.

Scrutiny committee chairman Coun John Fletcher, who presented the report to the council executive on Tuesday, said the investigation began with a question about grass cutting from the Craven area committee of the authority last year.

Coun Fletcher said: "The final report of the exercise is interesting, useful and captures a wealth of information to be used in improving the service of verge maintenance within the county - a process which is clearly much more involved than 'six cuts a season'."

Coun Murray Naylor told the executive that selfish drivers who mounted verges were causing great damage.

"The greatest threats to our highway verges are those drivers who cannot be bothered to stop for 15 seconds to allow someone else to get past. The state of some of our verges is atrocious because of the selfishness of some drivers. We need to carry the driving public with us."

He added: "In establishing ownership, parish councils would be very keen to get involved. They take enormous pride in the appearance of their parishes and we should try to get their support in an advisory capacity.

"Sponsorship of verges and roundabouts is a very good idea but those doing the sponsoring will want to gain from the fact that they are putting money in, and in America there are enormous hoardings littering roundabouts and roads."

Coun Shelagh Marshall, who supported the idea of involving volunteers and the community, said: "Every one of us gets questions on verges, maintenance and litter.

"We need to look very carefully at how we can take some of these things forward and I am under no illusions that some could be very costly. The starting point should be to look at an audit on a sliding scale, an area at a time. There could be savings if we had a strategy for dealing with ragwort."

In accepting the research group's recommendation for a review of policy and further detailed work on issues identified Coun Peter Sowray, executive member for the environment, assured Coun Fletcher that a progress report would be presented in six months' time.