Allotment holders and families clash in Shifnal parking row

Now Shifnal Town Council is to seek advice as it tries to get to the bottom of the matter.

The authority wrote to people in Bradford Street after allotment holders complained that their cars were blocking the entrance to their site.

But people living in Bradford Street have hit back – saying the road leading to the allotments is not supposed to be used for cars and that it is the growers who are causing the problems by parking next to the site.

At the council's meeting in the Old Fire Station last night, resident David Taylor spoke about the problem. He said he had been living on the street for more than 30 years and felt that the council should have consulted residents before issuing the letter.

Councillor Susan Broderick, mayor of Shifnal, said: "It seems this problem has been going on for a long time, maybe 20 years or so.

"It has come to a head because of complaints made by the allotment holders, when it could actually be the other way round."

Members said they wanted to look into ways of keeping the road clear, but Councillor Kevin Turley said there could be problems because of the amount of time that it has been used by allotment holders.

"They might have right of way from progressive usage," he said. "It is something we need to speak to the land registry about.

"Because of the amount of time they have had it, I want to write as a council and see if we can stop them going down there."

The leases on the allotments are issued annually and come up for review at the end of March, so Councillor Gordon Tonkinson suggested looking at a way of reviewing the leases to prevent allotment holders having permission to go down the road. Mr Turley said: "I think we need to get the facts right before we take any action."

Councillors will get advice about what they could do to ease the parking problem.