A ‘road network’ for insects could be created throughout Britain to protect bees, butterflies and moths from decline, under a new bill presented to the House of Commons this week.

Under the ‘Protection of Pollinators Bill’ councils, landowners and the public, will be encouraged to cultivate wildflower corridors so that insects can spread freely throughout the country.

Measures may include turning over farmland or waste ground to wildflower meadows, re-wilding roadside verges and abandoning the mowing of public grassland to encourage the growth of insect-friendly plants.

The Ministry of Justice and The Environment Agency are already working with the charity Buglife to identify sites, such as prisons, seawalls and floodplains where they could create wildflower habitats.

Buglife has also started to introduce ‘B-Lines’, a series of insect pathways running through the countryside and town which will form the model for the new national scheme.