THE PARKING chaos that has plagued Prudhoe’s streets in recent months has reared its head once more.

This summer saw sparks fly between motorists and residents in parking disputes outside some of the town’s schools.

And now history has repeated itself elsewhere in the town, with motorists and residents once again finding themselves at loggerheads.

Residents of Broomhouse Road and Eastwoods Road are concerned by the weekly influx of traffic heading to youth football matches at Eastwoods Park.

Up to 10 teams can take to the pitch on a Saturday morning during the football season, attracting streams of traffic into the town.

And although parking is provided at Eastwoods Middle School, many motorists appear to prefer parking at the roadside of these residential streets.

One resident voiced her disquiet at the situation in a letter to the town council, which was discussed at last week’s meeting.

The resident, who was not named, commended Prudhoe Youth Club Football Club, which plays home games at the park, saying it had ‘really really tried its best’ to solve the problem.

However, when matches were taking place the resident counted 85 cars parked in the streets, and stated there were ‘never fewer than 60.’

She described motorists blocking in residents by parking across their driveways and ‘tradesmen, deliveries and relations not being able to get anywhere near’ their homes.

More concerning were the reports of altercations between motorists and residents.

The resident stated: “A retired chap helped them [the football club] by being a car park attendant and we used to make him a cuppa and he said he’s never heard such abuse.”

She concluded by pleading for a meeting with the town council to try to resolve the ongoing issue.

Coun. Jennifer McGee said: “The football club has tried its best with this issue and I would hope the town council would support a meeting to talk this through and whether anything can be done now.”

County councillor Tony Reid added: “It’s reflecting what’s happening outside the schools.

“I’ve been to speak to the resident and they gave me a good account of the problems. Some of the inappropriate behaviour of some of the drivers is totally unacceptable.”

Coun. Brian Futers said: “We have to support sports here but we also have to support the people who live there and have to put up with that every week.”

Councillors agreed to make attempts to co-ordinate a meeting to talk through the situation.

Speaking to the Courant , secretary of Prudhoe Youth Club Football Club Duncan Graham explained that it had done everything in its power to resolve the issue.

He said: “It is legal to park on the roadside, but we still see it as an inconvenience for residents and don’t want it to happen.

“In the past 12 months we have prevented people from doing that by coning off areas and using marshals to direct traffic to parking spaces at Eastwoods School.We ask all visiting football clubs to respect the residents’ rights.

“There’s space in the school for parking and they would only have to walk an extra 20 yards.

“But some people still insist on parking on the road side and as it’s not illegal there’s little we can do.

“The only way it could be further resolved would be for the county council to put in single yellow lines or residents only parking restrictions.”

kathleen.moore@hexham-courant.co.uk