RESIDENTS in Rishton have called on the council to take action over parking.

The residents, who live in Stourton Street, have signed letters saying they are ‘seriously concerned’ an accident will happen if nothing is done.

Nigel Airey, lives in the street with his wife, Val.

The 66-year-old said the problem was caused by three county council sites, Norden High School, a sports centre, and the Primetime centre.

He said: “The school has parking for teachers but not for other staff. Primetime has no parking, and the sports centre has little or no parking.

“We are talking about cars parking all day long on the residents’ side, and 98 per cent of these people are employed by Lancashire County Council.” Mr Airey has contacted the school’s headteacher, Tim Mitchell, who he described as ‘very cooperative’.

He said: “He has bent over backwards to do what he can to try and accommodate us.”

But Mr Airey has been critical of local councillors, who he said he has been emailing and calling about it since September 2012.

He said: “They respond so it looks like they are doing something but then it dies off. You feel neglected and like you are being a nuisance. They have time to comment on faulty traffic lights and get their pictures in the paper, but that’s all it seems to be. It’s style over substance.

“Between us and the school, we have taken it as far as we can, but we need a councillor to push it.”

Norden headteacher Mr Mitchell said he had spoken to councillors at the end of summer and again last week.

Mr Mitchell said: “If we get some council support, we can look at expanding the amount of parking in some of the dead areas of the school site, which could alleviate the problem.

“But it will come down to cost, and in terms of the school money, I don’t get money to build car parks, I get money for educating children.”

Rishton councillor Ken Moss said he was working with the school to find a solution, and that he hopes to meet with Mr Mitchell in January.

Coun Moss said: “This is a long-standing problem. Mr Airey has a reasonable grievance but nothing happens overnight, and unfortunately the bottom line is that the school has been there a long time, and the residents have bought their houses knowing full well about the parking.

“The money has to come from somewhere, and that will likely be the school, which is already stretched.

“I’m in agreement that the parking problem needs to be addressed, but it boils down to money and time.”