COUNCIL bosses stress no promises were made over double yellow lines to ease parking pressure caused by Blackburn Rovers match-day traffic.

Residents on the Fernhurst estate in Blackburn have made repeated complaints about their area being swamped by fans parking – particularly on the entrance road to the estate, Jack Walker Way.

Some say the parking is so bad on match days that emergency vehicles would struggle to get through.

Cllr Denise Gee asked executive member for growth and regeneration, Cllr Phil Riley, whether any progress had been made on tackling the issue.

She said: “Please can Cllr Riley tell me when are the yellow lines on one side of Jack Walker Way are going to be done?

“Cllr Jackie Slater gave evidence regarding fire engines not being able to pass and asked the question and this was then promised yet we have no date.

“Can the exec member give me a time and date this will be delivered to ensure fire engines can service the ward on match days and parking does not cause any other issues.”

But Cllr Riley said no such promise had been made and extending double yellow lines up Jack Walker Way would cause more problems than it would solve.

He said: “The council has not agreed to extend these double yellow lines or to add blips (yellow lines painted on kerbs indicating parking restrictions) to them as double yellow lines with blips would be enforceable at any time irrespective of whether there is a football match or not.

"This seems to be a disproportionate response to stop cars parking on Jack Walker Way for up to three hours at a time, for 23 home matches a season plus any cup matches.

"If we were to install blips, it would likely result in supporters parking further into the housing estate outside people’s homes where we wouldn’t be able to enforce as there is no lineage or parking restrictions in place.

“The council undertakes a significant amount of parking enforcement on football match days and regularly deploys six civil enforcement officers to enforce against illegal parking.

“The civil enforcement officers patrol Jack Walker Way on match days, the vehicles parked there generally have disabled blue badges displayed so are allowed to park on double yellow lines for three hours as per national parking legislation.

“Any vehicles which park on these double yellow lines without a blue badge receive a penalty charge notice.”

Cllr Riley added council representatives had spoken to the fire service regarding a photograph dating back to December last year purporting to show a fire engine struggling to pass parked cars.

He said the service delivery manager for Blackburn Fire Station had confirmed that fire crews had no issues with parked cars on the day was allegedly taken and they did not attend to any fires.

Cllr Gee said she was not satisfied with the response and would continue to pursue the matter on behalf of residents living near Ewood Park.