Brigg drivers being consulted as £500 parking fine fears subside
COUNCILLORS have pledged to consult with locals in Brigg after abandoning plans to fine motorists £500 for parking on grass verges.
Letters had been sent out to residents on Hawthorn Avenue, Woodbine Avenue, East Parade, Central Square and West Terrace telling them they would face large fines if they flouted new parking rules.
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The move was designed to free up the verges and stop vehicles leaving mud on the road. But many people said there was no alternative but to park on the grass verges because the roads in question are too narrow.
North Lincolnshire Council ward councillors have agreed the move is "over the top".
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Nigel Sherwood, Brigg ward councillor and cabinet member for highways, said the issue was a very sensitive one and drew different responses from many residents.
"What is good for one area of Brigg is not necessarily good for another, so the policy will need to give us some flexibility," he said. "There is definitely something that needs to be done and something residents want to see done."
Brigg is at the forefront of the debate on the issue, although the policy will eventually be rolled out across North Lincolnshire.
Mr Sherwood said that until the document was published it would be a situation of "status quo" – with little change in the way parking on verges was treated until it is published.
He said having engaged with residents, many different suggestions had been proposed.
"Some residents asked if it would be possible to make it a one-way system, with cars parked down one side of the roads and people able to drive down the other," he said.
"Some people don't like to see scruffy verges and want to stop people parking on them. Other people want them resurfaced.
"But one thing we don't want to do is fix one problem and create another. Cars are very, very good traffic calming measures. If you take them away, what you will create is a lot of really fast roads."
James Martin, resident of Hawthorn Avenue, said: "With most households now having a car, residents have to park on the grass verges in order for the road to be passable.
"The road is quite narrow so parking on the verges is completely necessary.
"The council wrote to all of us on Hawthorn Avenue and threatened us with fines, insisting that we must not park on the verges.
"After we all complied with this, it caused absolute havoc on the road. The refuse collectors became stuck and ended up beeping, knocking on doors, and trying to carry out questionable manoeuvres before being forced to reverse off the estate."
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