What's with all the plastic sheeting?

This seems plausible. I thought it might be to do with organic farming, preventing weed growth or somesuch.

Anyway it looks horrible, especially when it gets all ragged and bits flap off across the roads. No doubt some pressure group is already gearing up to oppose the pernicious spread of plastic coverings around their lovely homes.

A layer of material such as plastic, paper of woven fabric covers the soil surface. Black polyethylene mulches are widely used for weed control in organic and conventional systems in the UK and elsewhere. Clear mulches are better than black for warming the soil but do not control the weeds. Plastic mulches have been developed that selectively filter out the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) but let through infra red light to warm the soil. Infra red transmitting (IRT) mulches have been shown to be effective in controlling weeds. Various colours of woven and solid film plastics have been tested in the field. White and green coverings had little effect on the weeds, brown, black, blue, and white on black (double colour) films prevented weeds emerging. There are indications that mulching films, like white on black, with a higher rate of light reflectance are beneficial to the crop. Light reflectance may also affect the behaviour of certain insects, and plastic mulches in a greater array of colours are likely to become available. The woven and non-woven polypropylene films or geotextiles (like Mypex) are sometimes referred to as weed barriers and landscape fabrics. They are more durable than polyethylene films permitting multi-year use and are permeable to water. There are advantages both in reduced laying and disposal costs compared with single season materials.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/09/18/news/top_stories/22_44_229_17_05.img