ANGRY residents who struggle to park near their own homes attended a meeting of Settle Town Council this week to protest.

Residents from Upper Settle, complained that a "Keep Clear" sign on the road by The Green had taken away valuable car parking space in an area already renowned for its parking problems.

Settle Town Council, which acts as a custodian of The Green, had asked for the sign in order to protect access across the site.

Coun Tom Foster explained: "At the moment what is happening is that cars are parking at the front of the access to The Green.

"Because of this the ambulances transporting the elderly people from Greenfoot, and in some cases normal emergency vehicles, are unable to get through."

However, Coun Foster admitted that the sign, which had been painted on the road by North Yorkshire County Council's highways department, was "absolutely massive" and not what council members had in mind.

"It would be true to say that this sign is not in keeping with the area round The Green. It also goes up to the telephone box there and has restricted a number of cars which could park on the side of the green before."

A large number of residents turned up at Monday's meeting to protest over the new sign and the parking situation in general.

Resident Stan Smith, said: "I think by the action that has already been taken and the repercussions we've had, it shows there are parking problems in Settle in general. The action has caused a reaction. It has caused a worse result than what we had in the first place."

One resident asked if it was the council's usual practice not to inform residents when work was to be carried out.

He said the first he knew about the new sign was when a workman came to his house and asked him to move his car.

Another resident said as soon as any spare land came up for sale in Upper Settle a house was built on it, making the parking problem even worse.

She was also concerned over rumours that residents could be advised to park on Greenfoot car park, which she said was not a nice thought especially late at night.

More concern was raised about the town council's proposals to place limestone rocks at intervals across the edge of the access road through The Green, to stop cars encroaching on the land and causing erosion.

Coun Beth Graham said she sympathised with residents over the parking situation, particularly as many of the old houses did not have access to a garage.

"We should ensure in the future that planning applications for houses should have garages, and that these garages should remain garages," she said.

However, Coun Graham added: "You just cannot muck around with village greens. Common land and village greens are very precious."

During the meeting it was suggested a residents' only parking scheme could be one way of taking the situation forward. Councillors agreed to discuss the idea in more depth and the matter was referred to the council's recreation and amenity committee to try and find a solution which suited everyone.

Coun Foster added that the issue of residents' parking should also be put on the agenda of the annual parish meeting.

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