ANGRY residents living near Totton College say that fresh plans to create more parking spaces on the college campus will not stop their roads being used as a car park.

Locals living on Calmore Road, opposite the college, staged a protest and blockaded the entrance to the site in April to highlight their grievances.

They say that plans to create a 42-space car park to accompany a new block for students with learning difficulties will not make enough of a difference.

New Forest planning chiefs gave the scheme the go-ahead in Lyndhurst yesterday, subject to a further period of public observation.

Vic Baker, a resident of Calmore Road, said: "We were up against it from the word go. We are just a minnow dealing with a very big shark but we tried and that is the main thing."

Mr Baker said that up to 60 cars regularly park on both sides of his road every day, causing residents major problems when trying to access their properties.

He told the meeting: "The site used to be a grammar school but now it is a college, swimming pool, recreation centre, day nursery, rugby club and adult evening education centre. It has totally outgrown its original site.

"The proposed car park of 42 spaces would not remove all the cars parked on our local roads, so we would strongly object to any further development on this site until the college can accommodate all students' cars in their car park."

Officers had originally recommended that the application should be refused because the car park was planned for the edge of the campus and would not have fitted in with the surrounding area.

However, a revised plan with the car park closer to the existing parking provision was deemed more acceptable.

Cllr David Hibbert said: "This is not as many spaces as local residents would like but it would go some way towards alleviating the problem."

National government guidelines prevent the college from creating any more parking provision on site.

Policy dictates that no allowances should be made for student car parking at colleges and is instead based on the number of staff working at an institution.