A PARKING system to ease potential misery for people living near Darlington Football Club's new stadium will not be in place for the start of the season, The Northern Echo can reveal.

The club was obliged to fund a parking permit scheme for residents in the area north of the Reynolds Arena - but a dispute over the cost has delayed its introduction.

Darlington FC was to finance the scheme, with Darlington Borough Council handling the administration and issuing permits. It was intended to stop hundreds of supporters leaving vehicles outside houses and making the short walk to the ground.

But the two parties cannot reach an agreement on how much the club should pay.

A council spokesman confirmed: "We could not finalise financial arrangements with the club."

However, a spokesman for the club said it was still in negotiation with the council, adding: "We don't feel they have negotiated as well as they could have done. The quicker they look at the cost, the quicker it can get done."

The £60,000 project was one of the planning conditions set down for the construction of the ground.

The council will now fund the scheme from its own pocket, but admits that it may be up to two months before it is ready.

Residents condemned the news, which comes only two weeks before Darlington are due to play their first match at the Reynolds Arena, against Kidderminster Harriers.

Until the system is in place, police will enforce "no parking" regulations in streets near the 27,500-capacity ground on match days.

However, officers will not distinguish between supporters and homeowners - so residents cannot park outside their own homes while Quakers' games are on.

Jan Mazurk, who was part of a local action group campaigning against several aspects of the stadium project, said a public meeting would take place in Buster's pub, Yarm Road, on August 14.

She said: "We are not very happy about this at all. They have known for four years that a residents' parking scheme had to be in place.

"There are 2,125 properties affected by this and many will be two-car families."

The affected streets are Starmer Crescent, Claremont Road, Brankin Drive, Brankin Road, Neasham Road, Geneva Drive, Geneva Crescent, Ripon Drive, Worton Drive and Parkside.