The vexed question of parking up on grass verges is once again high on the list of concerns of many in the New Invention and Short Heath area.

Where do you park your car when you don’t have a drive or a garage? More and more residents are parking up on verges which, given the very wet winter we have had this winter, churn up into a mud bath.

What’s the alternative?

Car owners could park on-street but this would cause congestion and disputes as many of our residential roads are not wide enough to cope with this. Another alternative would be to get the council to get rid of grass verges all together, though approaches to them to consider doing this have been stone-walled on the grounds that’s too expensive to do even though there would be a saving on grass cutting costs in the long run.

There is another way which could give you the best of both worlds. it might be possible to park up straddling the grass though you would need to make sure that there was enough space for buggies and the disabled to get by easily.

It would be good to get your views on the issue. Should the council keep grass verges or get rid of them? In the meantime if you are one of those without a drive or garage why not try straddling the verge where possible? But don’t forget to leave space for pedestrians to get by without having to walk in the road.