Plans to replace grass verges with parking spaces in Great Hollands have sparked a debate among Bracknell News readers over whether it would be a good move.

Bracknell Forest Council wants to build two separate blocks of three spaces each on patches of grass near the entrance to Holland Pines, just off Great Hollands Road. But members of the council’s planning committee will first have to give their approval at a meeting on Thursday, December 14.

Some readers on Bracknell News’s Facebook page said the move was necessary due to a lack of parking spaces around the town.

One reader Donna Godfrey said: “This needs to be done on all the estates. The grass areas are not properly looked after anyway and would be better used as parking. Hope they sort out Ingleton, where parking is ridiculous.”

READ MORE: More plans to replace grass verges with parking bays

Some readers said they would prefer to see grass verges stay – but that there was no other option but to build more spaces.

Gemma Lacy said: “Sadly it is needed. Always love to see green space but the world has changed, and most houses have at least two cars for mum and dad, and kids are living at home longer now and they get cars. It’s just the way it is.”

But other readers said a better solution would be to find ways to reduce car usage and improve public transport.

Clare Dowling said: “Whilst it will alleviate some of the awful parking problems, it won't solve many of the other issues caused by the huge number of gigantic cars we own as a town and may cause many more issues.

“We have excellent safe walking and cycling infrastructure within the borough, amenities are close by, trains and buses are good.”

READ MORE: Parking bays to be built on two grass verges in Bracknell

She added: “Having my local green space sacrificed so someone can continue to drive half mile trips and one household can store one of their four cars is not why I live here and I'm sure many others would agree.”

Great Hollands ward councillor Naheed Ejaz told the News that parking is a ‘chronic issue’ in Bracknell, and said the council is also looking at ways to encourage public transport use.

She said: “We constantly have people writing to us to complain that people have blocked garage access. People have been parking on green verges and we have been looking at ways to reduce the number of vehicles.”

She added: “Bracknell was designed as a 15-minute city 50 years ago, with everything you could access by public transport and cycling. In modern life people are more reliant on cars. All we can do is put things in place to encourage a greater use of public transport.”