ONCE again can I implore the council and as many readers as possible to support the following idea?

Every year the verges and hedges of Wiltshire are cut back savagely, leaving nowhere for wildlife to hide, grow, set seed or blossom. The obsession with safety (questionable in that greater visibility means traffic speeds up) and tidiness (not all birdlife lives off peanuts) means our hedgerows are becoming less and less able to offer any variety.

I am not that old (early sixties) but the increasing rarity of once common wildlife is tragic.

By all means cut visibility splays and junctions and clear ditches, and spend the money usually paid out to contractors on repairing the potholes.

Let the cow parsley set seed and the small birds eat the teasels – perhaps the next generation will still see a yellowhammer, or see some ladysmock blossom? Wiltshire used to have some "protected verges". Please Ms Donelan and Wiltshire Council, let’s give it a go. I am sure even Sir David Richard Attenborough would approve of this small move to conservation for his 90th.

J Prior, Bradford on Avon