Middlesbrough residents could wait years for 300 churned-up grass verges to be fixed

Middlesbrough Council spends £200,000 a year sorting out churned-up grass verges

Residents could wait years for a council to tackle 300 churned-up grass verges damaged by drivers parking cars.

Middlesbrough Council said money was tight because of a predicted £9m overspend this financial year.

Its environment head, Geoff Field, said wage increases and demand for children's services were priorities.

The authority spends about £200,000 per year maintaining grass verges, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The money comes from a £1.3m pot which also has to pay for highway projects, carriageway resurfacing, bridges, flood relief and traffic signals.

Council scrutiny panel committee chair, independent councillor Joan McTigue, said she had seen an email from a councillor in 2005 stating that the local authority needed to get a handle on the situation.

She added: "That was 17 years ago and we are still trying to get something sorted. Residents go mad when grass verges are churned up, one said they would move house."

'Doing our best'

Kader ward councillor Ron Arundale, who is a member of the Middlesbrough Independent Group, said grass verges should be paved over.

He added: "We can't afford to maintain them, we can't afford to enforce any legislation that's brought in to prosecute people for doing it, and we can't put anything down to stop people parking there for fear of people falling over.

Mr Field said: "Grass verges are a problem and they have been a problem for quite a while.

"We know we have a significant backlog on road maintenance and pavement maintenance, and we know that we are doing our best to rectify it.

"I haven't got loads of money I can suddenly throw at grass verges when I have other demands [for spending]."