Aside from showcasing their natural beauty, these native species of flora and fauna, which include native species of daises and poppies, provide a huge boost to the local wildlife of the area they inhabit.

Some of these benefits include providing a critical habitat for pollinators such as honeybees, native bees and butterflies, improving soil and water quality and supporting an ecosystem for other local insects and wildlife. Graham Construction, are currently upgrading junction 25 connecting the M25 with the A10 on behalf of Highways England. At peak times up to 6,300 vehicles per hour currently travel through the junction roundabout, causing congestion and regular delays. The A10 southbound approach into the junction is also a congestion hotspot in Broxbourne.

Improvements when complete will include:

• Quicker journey times
• Increase in average speeds through the junction
• Less disruption following incidents
• Reduced congestion will increase future development and growth opportunities
• Improved local air quality

Indy Grewal, Highways England’s project manager, said:

We are always looking for ways to reduce the impact our business has on the environment and to enhance it where possible. It’s not just about operating in an environmentally responsible way, we also recognise that there’s a need to balance people’s needs to travel on our roads with doing all we can to protect the environment.

Highways England manages a road network that stretches for 4,300 miles, connecting people and places from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Penzance. It also looks after around 30,000 ha of green verge which contains a range of habitats supporting interesting plants and animals.

Highways England contractors are now obliged to create conditions for species-rich grasslands to thrive using low fertility soils. The verges will then be allowed to regenerate naturally or be seeded with wildflowers.

Ben Hewlett, Highways England Senior Environmental Advisor, said:

The M25 J25 shows that if we create the right conditions, wildlife will return very quickly. Going forward Highways England will be creating more spaces through its construction activities that provide vital habitat for wildflowers, insects, pollinators and other wildlife to thrive.

In December 2020, Highways England launched a new verge creation policy which will create the correct conditions for wildflowers to thrive, through the removal of topsoil from new areas of grassland created by Major Projects. Removal of topsoil lowers the level of nutrients in the soil making it a harsher environment for coarse grasses and weeds, making more room for wildflowers to establish and thrive.

Get more information on the M25 junction 25 scheme

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

Round 6 of the Schools Infection Survey (SIS) – a study jointly led by Public Health England (PHE), the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – was carried out in June 2021 across 141 primary and secondary schools within selected local authority areas in England.

The study looked at prevalence of COVID-19 infection among pupils and staff sampled in schools. The results from testing showed lower levels of current infection in pupils and secondary school staff than in the autumn term 2020.

The percentage of primary school pupils in school on the day of testing that tested positive was 0.27%, showing very little change from Round 5 (May 2021).

In secondary schools 0.42% of students tested positive, representing an increase from Round 5 but a significantly lower level than the autumn term 2020 (Round 1 and Round 2).

In secondary schools, 0.27% of staff tested positive for COVID-19 – infection was similar level to Round 4 (March 2021) and significantly lower than the autumn term 2020. For Round 6, the number of positive test results from primary school staff was too small to present due to statistical disclosure criteria.

SIS is not intended to be generalisable to England as a whole but does have good representation in the North West. Data for schools in the North West were compared to the wider community prevalence among children of comparable age taken from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey (CIS). This analysis showed that the prevalence of infection among pupils in schools was consistently lower at all time periods of the study.

The study also found that antibody seroconversion rates (the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 antibody test results changing from negative to positive following natural infection) among primary and secondary school staff were at the lowest level recorded by the study for the academic year. Between Rounds 5 and 6, seroconversion rates for primary school staff was 0.8 per 1,000 person-weeks and for secondary school staff 1.9 per 1,000 person-weeks.

Dr Shamez Ladhani, Consultant Paediatrician at PHE and study lead, said:

Through this study we’ve closely monitored the risks of COVID-19 in schools.

Latest results show that infection and antibody positivity rates of children in school did not exceed those of the community. This is reassuring and confirms that schools are not hubs of infection.

Keeping community infection rates low remains critical for keeping children safe and schools open safely.

Thanks to all staff and pupils up and down the country for playing their part in keeping transmission of the virus in schools low.

Dr Patrick Nguipdop-Djomo, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at LSHTM, and co-investigator of the study, said:

It is encouraging to see that the prevalence of COVID-19 infection in schools has remained lower than in the autumn term 2020, and the high vaccine uptake in school staff taking part in the study. This is a testament to the huge amount of work done in schools to prevent and reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Although the study is not designed to be representative of all schools in the country, SIS has also shown that infections in schools mostly reflect the patterns of infection observed in the local community, thus measures to reduce community transmission remain important.

The whole team working on SIS are grateful to the pupils, staff and parents taking part in this landmark study. With their collaboration and time we are able to better understand how best to respond to COVID-19 and protect the children and school staff.

Fiona Dawe, Deputy Director, Wider Surveillance Studies at the ONS, said:

It’s really encouraging that our results today show infection rates in the summer term 2021 were lower than in the autumn term 2020.

As we have now completed the final round of testing, I would like to say thank you to all our incredible participants for taking part in the study throughout the school year, especially during such uncertain times.

This study wouldn’t have been possible without them.

Round 6 also recorded COVID-19 vaccination uptake of staff at participating schools in the 14 local authorities. The study found that 92.93% of staff had received at least one vaccine dose by the end of June 2021, an increase from 86.60% at the end of May 2021, and from 62.94% at the end of March 2021. Of staff, 70.47% had received both doses, an increase from 43.13% at the end of May 2021, and up from 1.01% at the end of March 2021.

In a separate data release from Round 4 (March 2021) of antibodies in primary and secondary school pupils, antibody levels following natural infection were found to be lower in schools located in local authorities where community infection rates have been relatively low throughout the pandemic than areas where infection rates have been higher. These findings support the suggestion that infection rates in school reflect those of the community.

Overall, the data suggest that adult vaccination (including in staff), and other ‘school-gate’ measures such as the rapid asymptomatic testing programme, excluding bubbles and measures to limit the likelihood of transmission within the school site (for example, social distancing), have contributed to reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection in schools.

Background

Parental opinion on child vaccination recorded in Round 6 found there had been no significant change since Round 5 (May 2021); 40% of primary school parents and 54% of secondary school parents said ‘Yes, definitely’ they would want their child to have a COVID-19 vaccine; 3% of primary school parents and 6% of secondary school parents said they would ‘Definitely not’ want their child to have a vaccine.

Round 4 also measured conversion rates among pupils (the incidence of an oral fluid antibody test result changing from negative to positive). For all pupils combined, conversion rates were lower between Rounds 2 (December 2020) to 4 (March 2021) than between Round 1 (November 2020) to 2 (December 2020) at 5.7 per 1,000 person-weeks and 12.0 per 1,000 person-weeks respectively.

The closure of schools during the national lockdown from 5 January 2021 meant that the 3rd round of the COVID-19 Schools Infection Survey was cancelled.

With world-leading facilities, unique in their capability and run by a team of world-leading forensic scientists, the Lab exemplifies what Dstl is here for: applying expert science and technology to keeping the UK safe and secure.

Dstl’s FEL facility can trace its origins back to 1871 when the earliest forensic science service was established. Now, 150 years later, supported and funded by the Home Office, the lab continues to support high profile police investigations into the unlawful use of explosives and helps bring those who carry out atrocities such as the Manchester Bombing to justice.

Terrorist attacks make up the more high profile cases dealt with by FEL – Lockerbie, IRA attacks, 7/7 and the failed bombings on 21 July 2005 in London, and the Bali bombings in 2002 to name a few – but the lab’s assistance covers much more than people perhaps realise.

About 80% of our cases are related to fireworks and other pyrotechnics. Examples include fireworks being posted through letterboxes and set off in phone booths, and people experimenting in their sheds with instructions they’ve found on the internet.

FEL has a very successful development programme that typically takes new graduates from good chemistry degrees and moulds them into specialists in forensic explosives with one main aim: to provide expert witness testimony for the British criminal justice system.

Late in the 19th century it was Captain Vivian Majendie who became the world’s first bomb disposal specialist. His history is well known among the scientists who proudly work in Dstl’s newest forensic lab at its site near Salisbury, recently opened in 2020 by Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness Prince William.

Captain Majendie’s tale began when, on 11 August 1871, at least 2 explosions occurred in the Prentice family’s ‘Patent Safety Gun Cotton Co. Ltd’ in Stowmarket, Suffolk. The size of the crater was 10 feet deep and 40 feet across, with the explosions causing almost complete destruction of the factory and extensive damage to properties in the local area.

More than 20 people were killed, including 2 members of the Prentice family, and in excess of 70 people were injured. More than 180 cases of deafness was caused as a result of the loud bang of the explosion, which could be heard as far away as Southwold – 30 miles away.

The government at the time issued a reward of £100 to establish the cause, believed to be the accidental initiation of ton quantities of nitrocellulose (poor standards of health and safety were found to be the cause of many accidental explosions at that time).

A formal enquiry into the incident was carried out by Captain Majendie, the recently appointed Home Office Chief Inspector of Accidents, a role he retained until his death in 1898. He realised quite quickly that he needed the services of a qualified chemist and so sought the advice of Dr August Dupre who was, at that time, consultant for the Medical Department of the Privy Council.

Dr Dupre carried out various chemical investigations into the cause of the explosion and gave expert evidence at the Coroner’s Court on 6 September. The association between Majendie and Dupre continued and by 1873 Dr Dupre had become an unofficial chemical adviser to the Home Office, giving his service in the fields of analysis and control of explosives, and the investigation of explosions.

In 1875, Parliament passed the Explosives Act and set up an Explosives Department, with Captain Majendie at its head. Dr Dupre also extended his work into the criminal field and rendered considerable help to the police following terrorist attacks on government, military and police targets.

Following the Fenian outrages and other acts of political terrorism in the 1880’s Parliament passed a further Act, the Explosives Substances Act of 1883, which deals with the criminal misuse of explosives and explosive devices – legislation that is still used today to bring terrorists and criminals to justice.

Majendie’s expertise in the study of explosives led to him becoming a pioneer in the fields of bomb disposal and the forensic investigation of explosives and their effects, and he is recognised as having saved many lives.

In 1883 Dr Dupre himself assisted in the conversion of several hundred pounds of impure nitro-glycerine (which had been secretly manufactured in the heart of Birmingham) into dynamite, and so averted what might have been a terribly disastrous explosion. He was highly commended in the House of Commons by Sir William Harcourt, then Home Secretary, in connection with this “prompt and courageous action”.

Dr Dupre, who was reportedly an excellent expert witness and was more than once complimented in Court on his straightforward evidence, continued his work in support of the Explosives Department until his death in 1907, and was succeeded in his consultancy by his 2 sons who continued to provide this service, as well as military work on explosives during the First World War.

In April 1923 the role of chemical adviser to the Home Office Explosives Department was formalised and moved to the War Office Research Department at Woolwich. A special section was formed and one Frederick Dupre continued to provide his assistance to the police and Home Office until his retirement in 1948.

The precise origins of the title ‘Forensic Explosives Laboratory’ (used to describe the forensic investigations being carried out on behalf of the police) is not known, but FEL relocated from Woolwich Arsenal to the former Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) Fort Halstead in January 1986 and then again to Dstl Porton Down in March 2020.