A STAGGERING £4.4m is needed to sort out churned up grass verges across Middlesbrough – as the town’s rutted hotspots were revealed. 

The shock seven figure sum was unveiled to councillors on Wednesday with highways chiefs laying the problem bare.

Ravaged verges are a problem across Teesside with the growth of households having more than one car and historically narrow streets exacerbating stresses on the road network.  

Middlesbrough Council has ranked its troubled verges – with the 16 in the highest priority bracket estimated to cost £709,000 to sort out. 

However, councillors heard the annual budget to sort out rutted verges was only £150,000 – and that some of the worst hit stretches would be waiting until 2024 to be sorted out. 

Brambles and Thorntree has the highest number of top priority verges with 13 out of 41 of the worst affected verges in the town.

Meanwhile, Park End and Beckfield clocked up the most pleas for work with 54 requests on 27 roads.  

Costs of verge work

Park End and Beckfield – 54 requests – cost to repair £807,000

Berwick Hills and Pallister – 46 requests – cost to repair – £770,500

Longlands and Beechwood – 36 requests – cost to repair – £538,000

Brambles and Thorntree – 36 requests – cost to repair – £517,000

Ladgate – 22 requests – cost to repair – £385,000

Council reports showed there were 328 outstanding requests for action on verges which would cost a mammoth £4,412,600 to sort out. 

More than two-third of people have asked for “verge hardening” to solve grass churning woes.

About ten per cent of responders have requested extra parking spaces while 13 per cent want verges protecting with bollards and other measures. 

Councillors were told Alverton Close, Birkhall Road, Crossfell Road, Overdale Road and Rainsford Crescent would see repair work before April.

Next year’s programme will see verges sorted on Barrington Crescent, Green Lane, Keith Road and Marton Road with more work planned on Overdale Road.

Council officer Chris Bates told the environment and infrastructure scrutiny panel how verges sometime be a source of conflict.

“Residents, within reason, insist on parking on verges because they want front door access, there’s fear of vehicle damage and a lack of parking for their own property,” he added.

“Sometimes they’ve got no other option because parking on the road will cause an obstruction.”

Mr Bates also offered up some of the tools the council had at its disposal to try and tackle the problem. 

Community Protections Notices (CPNs) have been used in Stockton to warn offenders as part of a three strike system. 

This scheme sees motorists made to pay for the damage they cause if they fail to heed the first two warnings given. 

On-the-spot fines of £25 which can rise to £1,000 can also be used in areas which have a “public space protection order” in place.

Traffic regulation orders, local pavement parking bans and laws under the Highways Act can also bolster council enforcement. 

Cllr Matt Storey, member for the central ward, said some residents with ruined grass in the high priority band had been told work wouldn’t take place until 2024. 

“It causes great frustration for people because grass verges being cut up are a massive issue across Middlesbrough,” he added.

“A lot of these verges are in a very bad condition.”

Cllr David Coupe said he’d faced problems in his Stainton and Thornton ward with stand-offs between cars and buses as more people moved into the area. 

Meanwhile, Cllr Ron Arundale believed any national ban on pavement parking would be “madness”.

The member for Kader said: “We need to have some common sense here – if we’re going to ban cars parking on pavements, there are certain roads which would be impassable.”

Rounding off, Cllr Lee Garvey was worried new Government legislation on parking rules could penalise motorists. 

“In residential areas we’ve got to focus on providing parking, rather than punishing people,” he added.