A BAN has been imposed on changing parking regulations due to the “absolutely tremendous” backlog of claims.

Residents calling for reductions in speed limits, parking restrictions or permits will be disappointed after Southend Council’s deputy leader Ron Woodley told a meeting of the traffic regulation working party they are years behind.

Mr Woodley claimed the volume of requests received by the council means residents are already having to wait several years before any action is taken.

He said: “The workload for the officers involved in this is absolutely tremendous and exceeds capacity. In some cases we have schemes approved nearly two years ago that have not been done.”

The decision will not stop changes to parking charges or the building of car parks, for example, but could stop plans to remove some restrictions around the centre.

Mr Woodley stressed any schemes linked to the safety of residents will continue to be considered but non-urgent work is on hold.

He added: “The council has been approving things without really contemplating the capacity for the department and that is crazy.

“It is not a matter of just employing more staff, we already had a two million pound overspend on staff costs last year.”

Chris Richardson, chairman of the Tower Court Residents Association, said: “I don’t see the logic of this just because it’s taking a long time. The answer would be to employ more people if this is a problem, it doesn’t make sense. If he is elected to look after people in the borough and one of the major issues is parking why would he want to slow that down or put that on hold. It is an absolutely key issue. It is quite disconcerting that it’s the choice he’s made.”

Tory councillor and working party member Daniel Nelson branded the decision an “abuse of power”. He said: “Under these new rules no new parking can be found along the seafront, no new parking can be found around train stations and residents cannot be protected with new resident parking schemes.”