£1m fund to halt cars churning up verges
BIRMINGHAM roads chief are launching a £1 million fund to wage war on grass verge parking vandals.
Communities are to be asked for ideas to stop the verges becoming unsightly muddy bogs as thoughtless drivers churn up the soil. The move could see strict enforcement regimes with fines or bollards installed across the city.
Bizarrely the announcement was claimed as a victory by both Labour and Conservative parties – with the former introducing a policy first outlined in the latter’s ‘alternative budget’.
The state of grass verges has also been a key issue in the Hall Green local council by-election campaign. Labour cabinet member for roads Steward Stacey (Acocks Green) said the fund would be approved by his cabinet colleagues in May and would take effect immediately. The money would be handed to the city’s 40 wards.
He said: “This is for the development of appropriate schemes to protect or enhance grass verg- es as they see fit in their area while bearing in mind the council’s duties to keep traffic flowing, including the needs of buses, ambulances and refuse lorries, and the effect on the displacement of parking.”
Wards will be able to choose their own solutions. Warning signs could be put up to enable regulation, or bollards or double-kerbs installed to keep cars off. Residents may also want spaces ‘grass-creted’ – a concrete grid which allows some grass to grow through.
Cllr Stacey denied the funding idea had been stolen from the Tories, who said their plan was for a fund in 2018/19.
But Conservative shadow cabinet member for roads Timothy Huxtable said: “I’m delighted the council have agreed to introduce a £1 million fund to protect grass verges across the city. This is exactly the sort of thing we had been campaigning for the council to deliver in the coming years. We have been raising concerns about damaged verges all over the city.”