PARKING charges outside a public park will cause “anguish and inconvenience” to residents in neighbouring streets, claim campaigners.

Southend Council is considering charging visitors for parking at Gunners Park, Shoebury, but angry residents fear it will see their own roads targeted for parking as visitors try to avoid paying up.

The park car park is currently free to use, but that could change under new budget proposals.

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A petition set up by Shoebury resident Stephen Harvey has collected 126 signatures from angry residents and campaigners.

Mr Harvey, 72, said: “It’s totally unnecessary and will cause stress, anguish and inconvenience for the residents.

“It could also put people off coming to the park; the Heritage Centre would suffer and this would be a travesty.

“I’ve spoken to residents who are angry and concerned about this. Residents are worried their roads will be inundated with people parking there to avoid the parking charges.

“It’s also a conservation area and there are concerns about the impact on the environment if people are parking and driving down residential roads.”

The petition has been registered on the council website and will close on April 8.

Steven Wakefield, councillor responsible for highways, transport and parking, said: “We are aware of a petition about the car parking at Gunners Park, which is on the council website. We await the final petition to be presented to the council it can be dealt with it appropriately.

“The reason that councils are having to consider measures like this is because we have endured over a decade of Government cuts. In Southend alone we have lost 90 per cent of our main Government grant, and are currently facing ten per cent inflation, rising energy and fuel costs, and ever-increasing costs and demand for our services.

“The proposal to introduce parking charges has to be seen within this context of financial challenge and is part of a package that helps us to ensure we can deliver a balanced budget that protects the vulnerable but also enables investment into our highways service.

“Any changes to the car parks will be subject to a statutory public consultation.”

The petition can be signed online at bit.

ly/3ZBeadJ