sprayed with tar, and then sprinkled with
a thin layer of grit or pea gravel. As
the tar eventually biodegraded, the grits
and gravel were washed away, and by the
time of the next tar and gritting cycle
there was nothing left to dispose of.
Today, however, our roads are metalled with
a thick layer of graded stones in a bitumen
base. When this decays to the point
where it begins to crumble it is removed,
creating over the years vast quantities of
friable waste that is becoming almost as
big a headache as garbage. For many years
this material was quietly dumped in old
gravel workings (as, of course, was garbage!)
- now the quantity removed each year is
reaching such proportions that the very
expense of transporting it in lorries to a
suitable disposal site is becoming prohib-
itive .
For some years now, the traffic area author-
ities in Essex have been quietly dumping
thousands of tons of this material on our
Essex verges, obliterating mile after mile
of our precious relict grassland and herb
floras. At the rate at which dumping is
taking place, nearly every verge will be
plastered with it by the end of the century.
One excuse proferred is that under local bye-
laws traffic area authorities are obliged to
'make-up' verges where these have crumbled
away below road level, thus creating a hazard.
Why then are the six foot high banks along
Queenborough Lane, Braintree plastered with
it! What happens to a verge that has been
thus plastered? The early colonists are
usually the Creeping Thistle and Curled Dock,
often, I suspect, because they are the only