SHARED homes and multiple car families have been blamed for a parking space shortfall in one of Swindon’s most crowded neighbourhoods.

Parents have spoken of having to race home from picking up their children from school just to find space to park.

New figures, obtained by the Adver under Freedom of Information rules, reveal the full scale of the town’s parking squeeze.

In just one area off Eastcott Road, Swindon Borough Council sold almost 500 parking permits than there were parking spaces. In March, 1,595 residents’ parking permits were in operation in zone D, which includes terraced streets Kent Road and Hythe Road. However, the council estimates that there are just 1,113 parking spaces in the area.

In neighbouring zone E, which includes Prospect Hill and South Street, there were 849 permits in March but only 614 spaces.

Parking permits range in price from £25 to £75. Each property is limited to two permits. Across Swindon, there are 14 parking zones, all concentrated in central Swindon, Broadgreen and Old Town.

In March, when the figures were requested by the Adver, a total of 9,597 parking permits had been bought from the council. But there were only around 8,410 parking spaces across the town for which they were valid, leaving one in 10 with a permit stuck for somewhere to park.

In Eastcott’s busy zone D, residents have complained of growing parking pains. Mum Ewa Salik, 40, said: “It’s terrible. If you get here after 6pm it’s difficult to find a space. People race home just to get parking. I take my son home earlier from nursery, just to be able to not park too far away.”

Alan Marriott, 57, added: “It’s getting worse. There are never enough spaces, then they’re building more and more flats.”

Stan Pajak, ward councillor for Eastcott, said the area had always suffered from an oversupply of parking permits and an undersupply of spaces.

He said: “Often residents are forced to park illegally overnight and suffer the consequences of a parking ticket. We encourage wardens not to ticket in the early hours as they just get residents.”

He suggested it was time for another review of parking in the area, although residents’ parking zones successfully encouraged visitors to the town centre to use council car parks, providing the borough with a large income.

Council spokesman Kevin Burchall said: “The parking permit policy was changed several years ago after residents and landlords complained that the one permit per home rule was not enough for most households. With more people now owning cars demand for permits has gone up, which has created pressure on parking spaces in residents’ zones. We cannot create extra capacity on the roads themselves, but residents can purchase season tickets to park in the long stay car parks in both the Town Centre and Old Town”

He added the cabinet had agreed to cut season ticket prices so residents could park at any time for £299 a year or £149 between 6pm and 9am.