PARKING problems and traffic congestion continue to aggravate residents of Ashburton. Ashburton Town Council considered two petitions at its meeting on Tuesday from residents seeking action on traffic problems in different parts of the town. Parents with children at Ashburton Primary School sent in a petition complaining about cars and vans parked on double yellow lines in St Lawrence Lane and Whistley Hill, causing a potential hazard to them walking to and from the school. One mother wrote that many parents used this road and that she had felt unsafe while walking along this pavement in the morning. County and district councillor Stuart Barker observed that this was a police matter, and it was agreed to forward the parents' letter on to police for action. Cllr Michael Posner said the situation was made worse by people fly parking outside the Post Office to post letters. 'Everybody does it for a second. We need constant policing to be able to stop this. We might just as well not have yellow lines.' The second petition was from a dozen residents living in and around Eastern Road, fed up with parking and congestion problems. They want yellow lines to stop cars parking at the Eastern Road/Cooks Close junction. They pointed out that other junctions on to Eastern Road had yellow lines and that emergency services all have to exit onto the road. 'It is just a matter of time before there is a serious accident... we urgently require help,' the petition said. Cllr Jack Elliott said that he had received complaints and that part of the problem was down to residents themselves. 'If you have one person with three vehicles regularly parking two in the road what can you do? 'People ought to park cars off-road when they can.' Members agreed to refer the matter to the local service group so that the problem could be logged on the town's travel plan, to be tackled when funds were available. The issue of parking has been identified as one of the top priorities in the Town Plan, but councillors brain-storming on the question at their general purposes Committee on November 22 came to no firm conclusions. Long-term parking in Cleder Place, putting a second storey on the town car park, and park and ride were all considered. But one of the main problems is how to accommodate more cars without spoiling the character of the medieval town. It was agreed to publicise the bus service in the local newsletter to try to persuade more people to leave their cars at home.