GO-GETTING residents are trying to rent out their driveways to cash in on the Southend Airport expansion.

Dozens of online adverts have been placed for private parking spots in streets near the airport, as it prepares to welcome easyJet in April.

With prices as low as £2 per day, residents are confident they can undercut the airport’s own car parks and make a profit.

Peter Joseph, of Oaken Grange Drive, Southend, has advertised two spaces on his driveway for £30 a week. He said: “I don’t have a car, so I’ve no need for the space. Usually, I might allow my neighbours to park on it, but if I can make some money out of it, why not?

“It’s a reasonable rate and I suspect it might be cheaper than the airport.”

Ten overseas destinations will be within reach from Southend once easyJet starts a decade-long contract on April 2. Stobart Air, the airport’s owner, hopes to welcome two million passengers a year by 2020.

To cater for them, it has invested millions of pounds in new infrastructure, including a £15million railway station, a £10million terminal, and about 1,100 parking spaces.

If an application to treble the size of the terminal is approved by Rochford District Council later this year, Stobart plans to create another 470 spaces.

Southend Council also approved proposals to use an old car park near Warners Bridge as parking for 260 vehicles earlier this month.

Spaces in the existing short-stay car park are priced at £6 per day, or £35 for a week.

However, it is not clear how much it will cost to park in the new long-stay car parks.

The airport’s entrepreneurial neighbours believe that is a loophole which they can use to make some money.

Last week, the Echo revealed Steve Murray, who lives in nearby Eastwoodbury Lane, has plans to create a 150-space car park in his back garden.

The number of private driveways available for hire is also growing.

The Echo counted at least 30 adverts on websites such as parkatmyhouse.com and park onmydrive.com Despite the growing number of offers from residents, airport bosses said they were confident they could meet the passengers’ parking demands.

Managing director Alastair Welch said: “Projections of car parking demand demonstrate that, as passenger numbers increase to 2 million per year by 2020, the airport can comfortably accommodate all the parking requirements within the land it currently controls.

“We have also made a huge investment in encouraging people to use public transport to access the airport, with a new railway station just 100 paces from the new terminal building.”