Success of green verges protection plan (Cambridge Liberal Democrats)

Cambridge Liberal Democrats <camlibdems@gmail.com>

Success of green verges protection plan

November 6, 2007 10:00 PM

Councillors in Queen Edith's ward have welcomed plans for the temporary ban on parking on grass verges in Mowbray Road and Fendon Road to be made permanent.

The ban has been in place for a year as a pilot which could be extended to other areas of the city if there is sufficient support from residents in a particular road. The pilot scheme was reviewed at Environment Scrutiny Committee today.

City Councillor Amanda Taylor commented:

"Although we still have the occasional vehicle parked on the grass, there has been a dramatic improvement. It used to be impossible to walk down Mowbray Road without seeing cars and vans parked on the verges. The damaged verges have been reseeded and the new bylaw parking ban has protected them - this is a great improvement".

The local councillor on the committee, Alan Baker, also criticised the County Council for standing in the way of a cheaper scheme. Councillor Baker said:

"We could have car-free grass verges much more cheaply if the County Council were willing to allow double yellow lines to be introduced on environmental protection grounds, as well as road safety grounds, on the city's main roads".

The City Council's Environment Scrutiny Committee agreed that the verge protection bylaw should be used to protect verges on other main roads in Cambridge while recognising that other ways of achieving the same end should also be explored for its secondary, suburban, roads.