A residents' association chairman is calling for action over long-running parking problems in a Huntingdon housing area which he says are growing worse and are creating a serious safety hazard.

Daljit Saini, whose organisation represents people living in Essex Road, wants Huntingdonshire District Council to carry out improvements to parking on land it owns in a bid to ease congestion.

Parking problems have existed in Essex Road for many years and have worsened as car ownership increased, with drivers leaving their vehicles on any piece of land which becomes available.

Mr Saini said: "I have been aware for nearly 20 years that this has become a problem. Cars are parked all along the road, restricting space for pedestrians and other drivers, so it has become dangerous as well.

"In the wet weather the grassed areas where people park have become badly churned up and there is mud all over the place."

Mr Saini said the district council owned the grassy areas and he felt the best solution would be to concrete them over to increase the space available for parking.

"It is a nightmare at the moment and concreting this land over would at least do something to help," he said.

Mr Saini said he would prefer to see the areas remain grass-covered but they had turned into swamps in the wet and the mud which had been generated by vehicles made the situation worse.

He said the issue had been going on so long that it had been a key reason for the residents' association being set up.

But local district councillor Patrick Kadewere, who is involved in the campaign, warned that the authority did not have the money to pay for extra parking areas and said other sources of funding would have to be found.

Cllr Kadewere said: "The council doesn't have the money to do it.

"I think the residents are going to have to get assistance in applying for funding from somewhere else, I think that will have to be the way to do it."

Cllr Kadewere said parking was a genuine problem in the area and had been for many years.

The Essex Road area was built in the 1960s when car ownership levels were low for householders but the number of vehicles increased as people became more affluent, with two or three cars to a home becoming common.

The lack of space meant cars were left lining the pavements and in any gap which became available.