How a £1.5bn ‘wildlife-boosting’ bypass became an environmental disaster

The A14 near Cambridge, where miles of trees planted by the Highway Agency have died. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

Lorries thunder over the A14 bridge north of Cambridge, above steep roadside embankments covered in plastic shrouds containing the desiccated remains of trees.

Occasionally the barren landscape is punctuated by a flash of green where a young hawthorn or a fledgling honeysuckle has emerged apparently against the odds, but their shock of life is an exception in the treeless landscape.