RELIEF could soon be in sight for residents living around southend.nhs.uk/" target="_blank">Southend Hospital who have been plagued by parking problems for years.

A council scheme is set to be introduced to bring in residents parking. This would mean residents would pay £10 for a permit to park outside their homes.

The aim is to stop the roads getting clogged up by hospital workers and people working at the Royal Bank of Scotland offices in Thanet Grange.

Liberal Democrat councillor for Prittlewell, Ric Morgan, said he welcomed the scheme.

He said: “I think it may need a little adjustment when we know exactly how it works, but overall it is good news.

“It would have been better to have done a pilot scheme so it could have been closely looked at with all the possible implications. This would also have been easier on the officers. However, it is clear the proposals will come as a great relief to many people in the area.”

A public consultation has been held into the scheme and 60 per cent of people who responded were in favour of the plans.

Council chiefs said there had been a great deal of interest during a public consultation on the proposals and 42 per cent of questionnaire issued to affected homes were returned.

In a report to the committee, environment director Andy Lewis said the problems were caused by a lack of parking within the hospital site and people trying to avoid paying for parking.

Southend Council’s traffic and parking committee will be asked on Monday to back the scheme for residents’ parking permits and controls on roads surrounding the hospital.