A CITY-WIDE parking probe will hear evidence from residents who have had to put up with problems for years.

A group of Worcester city councillors are talking to people to find where the issues are, and trying to work out how the problems could best be solved.

Parking permit schemes will be discussed and councillors will be drawing up a priority list of areas where schemes could be set up.

There are currently four city areas with parking permits schemes; in the Spring Lane area, at Severn Terrace, the area around Britannia Square and by the city’s cathedral.

Parts of the city are plagued with issues such as the Arboretum where residents have long complained of commuters parking in their streets and walking to their offices in the nearby city centre.

There, a voluntary parking permit scheme has been running for some time.

There have also been problems in the past in Claines and Diglis and also around the university campus in St John’s, where new measures such as double yellow lines were recently brought in.

The city council has put £30,000 into its parking review, setting up a committee to hear all the evidence.Councillor Joy Squires, parking review scrutiny committee chairman, said: “Parking problems affect so many residents in Worcester, it seems right to take a good look at what the issues are and identify what can be done to improve things.”

She and other councillors have been out talking to residents already, and have called an ‘evidence day’ at the Guildhall from 10am until 5pm on Tuesday, September 13.

Residents, stakeholders, businesses and councillors will be able to give their views to committee members in person on the day.

Arboretum Residents’ Association and St George’s Square Residents’ Assoc-iation have already met Coun Squires to discuss their problems and will be presenting to the scrutiny committee.

In Cathedral ward, Lynn Denham – a Labour party activist – said a canvas of residents earlier this year revealed parking problems were “ruining ordinary families’ lives”.

She said it was a “massive problem”, adding concerned ward residents can visit the Worcester Labour party’s Facebook page to log their views, or take part in a doorstep survey.