Furious residents have used their wheelie bins to stop the council painting yellow lines on their street.
Outraged residents of Chivers Road, Chingford, London, have gone to battle with their local council over its decision to limit parking on one side of their road.
Officials were planning to pain yellows lines but were forced to give up on that last week after resident vowed to block their efforts
They claimed the council did not put up “proper signage” and on Thursday, anticipating a second attempt to paint the lines, residents created a blockade of bins and chairs.
They even sprayed water from their hoses to soak the road, My London reported.
Alongside that, large yellows signs reading: “NO YELLOW LINES! Why won’t Waltham Forest Council listen to the residents” and smaller “No yellow lines” signs are stuck on windows of many properties.
Things got so bad that police even attended the scene and listened to residents’ concerns, according to one resident, Julie Anderson.
She added: “They can see that everyone in the street is objecting.” Some residents have even put out chairs and are sharing tea and biscuits.
The council says wider road space is needed to allow access to emergency services, following an incident raised by the London Fire Brigade last year.
The London Fire Brigade has confirmed that it raised concerns about the road’s width in September last year, when a crew had to walk 100m by foot to reach a property at the bottom of the cul-de-sac.
However, many of the residents refused to back down in the face of fire service pleas and instead wanted a compromise reached.
They wanted the council to allow curb parking, which they say is in place on similarly sized roads parallel to Chivers Road.
In a letter from director of highways and traffic management Vala Valavan, sent in September, residents were told the pavement is “not wide enough” to allow curb parking.
A complaint about the council’s handling of the dispute, made by Chivers Road resident Debora Wright, who collected 52 signatures against the plan, was rejected by the Local Government Ombudsman earlier this month.
Cllr Clyde Loakes, Deputy Leader of Waltham Forest Council, said: “The decision to install double yellow lines today in Chivers Road, Chingford is solely in response to concerns raised by residents and the London Fire Brigade about emergency service access as well as waste collection challenges.
“On Wednesday 22 June we delivered letters to inform residents of works to be carried out on Thursday 30 June as well as installing parking suspension notices in the area.
“While historical decisions have permitted curb parking in some nearby roads, it has been ruled out as an option by the Council as it hinders legitimate pavement users such as pedestrians, families with young children and buggies and those with mobility requirements such as using with mobility scooters. This is in line with London legislation preventing pavement parking.
“A detailed evaluation concluded double yellow lines as the only workable solution to concerns over emergency services access and waste collection challenges, whilst maintaining pavement space for pedestrians and their associated needs, as outlined previously.”
