A ONE-WAY system along Gargrave's East Street has been suggested by residents as one solution to growing parking problems in the village.

Helen Sanderson and her partner, Chris Hamlin, have come up with a range of ideas to try to solve the parking nightmare g which they describe as "hell on wheels" at nights and weekends.

Miss Sanderson said several of the residents in the streets around South Street - where she and her partner live - have long complained that the car parking was becoming more difficult.

She said that while she did not blame other residents for parking where they could - she has to do this herself - she worried when she was driving home from work whether she would be able to park.

"We have lived in Gargrave for more than two years and during this time we have frequently been unable to park alongside our house - front or side - for unloading and the security of seeing our cars from the house windows.

"There have been several instances of car vandalism including damage to my car," she said, adding that she and her partner were contemplating moving because of the problem.

"Looking around the village there are a number of households with five cars, and this trend is going to increase with the lowering costs of car ownership and poor public transport links.

"And the matter can only get worse because there has been planning permission granted for a number of houses at the entrance to East Street. Where will visitors to those homes park?" added Miss Sanderson.

She says making East Street one way from the direction of the High Street will free up more road space to allow residents to park their cars diagonally while leaving enough space for emergency vehicles to get through.

She suggests residents' only parking here as well as along the green between River Place and South Street.

However, the latter could involve using some of the grassed area for parking which is owned by the parish council.

There is also a dental surgery at the high street end of East Street for which patients would require parking facilities.

Several residents around South Street have backed Miss Sanderson in her campaign and have written letters to the County Coun Irene Greaves and highway officials.

Bill Isherwood, area traffic manager for the county council, said he was looking at the residents' complaints and would arrange a public meeting in the very near future between highways, the police, parish council and residents to talk the matter over.