Skipton'S residents-only parking scheme is months behind schedule.

Affected homeowners were due to be consulted in the early part of this year but that has still not happened and it could still be months before any residents only zones are introduced.

The schemes - provided they are wanted by residents - will be brought in at some point during the 2005-06 financial year.

The five key areas under consideration are Middletown, Keighley Road, Otley Street, Water Street and Gargrave Road.

Area traffic manager Bill Isherwood said surveys and analysis had been carried out and North Yorkshire County Council's highways department is still in discussions with Craven District Council officers about how the schemes will be enforced and the charges entailed.

When the details are ironed out a proposal will be put before residents on a zone by zone basis. The scheme will only be implemented if most householders in that zone want it brought in.

Mr Isherwood said it had been a huge and complex piece of work to look at due to the number of streets and properties.

He said they also had to consider problems of displacement when people working and parking in the town found they no longer had a space.

"We have got to be careful about it because it could cause chaos if we get it wrong," he said.

The schemes will be run on a permit basis, which residents will have to buy.

Craven District Council will have the responsibility of enforcing the parking schemes and it is thought the wardens who patrol the town's car parks will be used for this.

Surveys carried out have shown that in Skipton's central residential areas 74 per cent of parking spaces on the streets were occupied by non-residents by 10am.

One particular area of Skipton straining under the weight of residents' and non-residents' cars is the Middletown area. Ward councillor Andy Solloway said he was frustrated by how long it was taking to get schemes introduced.

He said he was a member of a Craven District Council overview and scrutiny group which would be asking the county council for a progress update.

Coun Solloway said: "I can appreciate we have got to get it right because if we don't it could be a complete disaster."

But he added: "I would like to see it in place as soon as possible. I think we have waited long enough.

"Residents parking has been on the agenda before I became a councillor and I have been a councillor for three years."

He said he was confident homeowners in his ward wanted residents-only parking on the streets where they lived.

"It can't happen soon enough for some of the residents," he said.