Grass verges have had their day.

These are the areas of grass you see on streets, between the road and the footpath, where people sometimes park their cars.

I’ll tell you why I think they should go. But first, let me tell you about some residents in the Christchurch suburb of Somerfield who aren’t happy about the city council putting in a heap of red and white markers to stop people parking on the verge.

Rose Street is where 130 white and red markers, like the ones you see on state highways, have been put in. A move being described today as “ridiculous”, “hideous” and “stupid”.

Apparently, since the markers have gone in, some people are parking on the road, next to the markers, which is making the space for vehicles more narrow. Which is crazy, isn’t it?

I know Rose Street pretty well and it’s not off the beaten track. There’s a lot of traffic there at times because one of the entrances to Cashmere High School is on Rose Street. There’s a couple of rest homes. It’s a pretty busy street.

The council’s not having a bar of the complaints, though. The local councillor, Tim Scandrett, is saying that people parking on verges and damaging them has been a problem for about 40 years.

And so they have to try something to stamp it out.

Now I’ve had an issue with grass verges for quite a while. Ever since people started putting rocks on the verges outside their houses, because they were brassed-off with people using the verge as a parking area, and the grass getting damaged and all that.

I’ve had an issue with it because these busy bodies don’t own the verge, yet they carry-on as if they do.

Rose Street is one of the areas where people have put these blasted rocks. So the council’s intervened and installed all of these white and red markers.

The same council, might I point out, that has been perfectly happy to issue building consents left, right and centre for in-fill housing. Not just in Somerfield but across the whole city.

In-fill housing developments that, most of the time, don‘t have enough space for off-street parking. Which means more people needing to park out on the street.

So, instead of putting up markers and closing off the verge areas, the council should be getting rid of verges completely to create more on-street parking spaces.

Because the situation at the moment, where more and more people are needing to park on the street and all of this parking space is being chewed up by grass verges, makes no sense to me whatsoever.

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