RESIDENTS near Pendle’s newest super-schools look set to lose a four-year fight to park outside their homes.

To the dismay of Pendle Council’s Brierfield and Reedley Committee, county engineers have insisted they will not undertake remedial works to resolve problems in Walverden Road.

New traffic lights are being installed at the junction of Mansfield Road, King’s Causeway and Walverden Road, ahead of the opening of the newly-built Marsden Heights Community College.

But no proposals have been laid out for Walverden Road parking, which house-holders and councillors say has been a problem since 2005.

Now the county highways department has stated it will not pay for dropped kerbs for the residents of 1 and 3 Walverden Road because their Building Schools for the Future (BSF) budget for Marsden Heights has already been ‘committed’.

Highways official John Ferris said in a letter: “This (traffic lights) enhancement would have no impact on the parking restrictions in this area.

"The scheme is needed irrespective of the new BSF school being built on the Benthead site.

"If there had been no school being built, who would this request have gone to?

“The BSF project has invested significant monies into the pedestrian/cycle infrastructure around the new school site, to the benefit of both school users and local residents, and the budget is fully, if not over, committed.”

Lee Barnes, of Walverden Road, said: “We will still not be able to park outside our own homes – now we will have to compete for spaces with the new school.”

Brierfield Committee chair-man Coun Tonia Barton said a renewed appeal for residents-only parking at the location had been made two months ago without reply – which was a “disgrace”.

“This is symptomatic of the approach which Lanca-shire County Council has taken over this develop-ment,” said Coun Barton.

“They have not listened to any concerns from resid-ents right from the start.”

Councillors have called on county highway engineers to explain their approach at the committee’s November meeting.

A Lancashire council spokesman said that residents-only parking schemes were drawn up by Pendle Council and then discussed with their engineers.