A group set up to consider what can be done to prevent damage to grass verges in York caused by indiscriminate parking has produced a draft report.
The lengthy tome can be read by clicking here
It concludes that it is a difficult problem for which there is no easy answer (surprise, surprise!)
The Council is being recommend to take action against drivers who cause the damage with an electronic warning system being developed using the authorities new web based systems.
The report is weak in several areas not least in failing to identify the need to include surface hardening (matrix protection) as a requirement in any new developments. The system allows water to pass through the surface and therefore avoids drainage issues. It can also be retro-fitted to verges where parking space is obviously inadequate to meet modern needs.
There is a lack of management performance information included in the papers. Taxpayers should be told how many reports of damaged verges have been received each year by the Council and what the response has been and to what timescales. It remains unclear whether the problem is getting worse
There is no detailed response to the technology based solutions offered by the private sector.
There needs to be a programme for the provision of off street parking spaces (for example near blocks of flats), new lay-bys and subsidised dropped kerbs/verge crossovers. Good progress was being made on the latter programme during the last decade but the work has since tailed off.
It seems that the Council will continue to spend £35 per sq metre having damaged verges repaired and will use “community payback” labour to do some of the work.