PROPOSALS for a pay and display scheme in a residential area has angered residents, who say it flies in the face of consultation.

People living near Claypath in Durham City say residents-only parking was introduced to Renny Street, Ellis Leazes, Kepier Terrace and Bakehouse Lane after nearly ten months of consultation by Durham County Council in 2001.

The scheme was welcomed by residents and has been in place for nearly two years. But now the council is proposing the scrap the scheme in certain streets.

Durham County Council said it had been monitoring the parking arrangements introduced across the city and found that Renny Street and Ellis Leazes were only lightly used by residents.

They felt allowing any motorist to park there for a charge would help ease parking problems in Durham.

Residents are furious, saying they indicated they did not want pay and display parking when they were consulted two years ago.

A member of the local residents' group, Alan Lumsdon of Kepier Terrace, said: "We argued we did not want pay and display when they were introducing the meters all over the city, because we are not on one of the main routes.

"We've had residents' parking for two years now and now they're going to start imposing pay and display without consultation. There are some people who have just moved in here who said they wouldn't have come if it was just a free-for-all."

Mr Lumsdon said he contacted nearly half a dozen other residents' groups in the city, who also felt the council was not taking their opinions into account over parking. As a result, the Bakehouse Lane/Ellis Leazes Residents' Group has lodged a complaint with the county council about what they describe as the 'sidelining' of the consultation process.

In a similar situation, Hawthorn Terrace Neighbourhood Parking Group recently called on the council to adopt their suggestions for easing congestion in the streets surrounding the bus station, involving more residents-only parking. But council officials refused to consider it, asking residents to vote only on the council's proposal for mixed permit holder and pay and display parking.

A spokesman for the county council said: "We're consulting on proposed changes. When we introduced on-street parking schemes, we always said we would monitor their operation and if they needed fine-tuning we would consider it and that's what we're doing at the moment."