A LEADING motoring organisation has condemned moves by Southampton City Council to charge residents to park outside their homes.

City council leaders agreed the controversial policy to start charging for first permits without guaranteeing space.

The charging policy has sparked outrage from residents and led to the Daily Echo's Parking Mad campaign demanding a U-turn.

Now a survey has revealed other Hampshire authorities that run large scale free residents parking schemes are resisting the move.

Hugh Bladon, a spokesman for The Association for British Drivers said: "If you pay council tax for a property you should be entitled to a permit to park your car on the road.

"I don't see why anybody should be made to pay for a permit. You don't get much for council tax as it is.

"If somebody asked me to pay for a permit I would be furious."

Southampton's joint Labour and Lib Dem administration has ruled out bringing in new charges for at least 12 months but have refused to scrap the policy.

They want to make the residents parking scheme "self-funding".

A spokesman for Portsmouth City Council said it initially charged for permits for its residents parking scheme when introduced in 1999. But it ditched the charges as the scheme expanded and they proved unpopular.

"When we started to spread it around the city it was clear it wasn't going to work that way," the spokesman said.

"We asked residents and that's what they wanted."

The spokesman said there were no plans to introduce charges for first permits, although second permits cost £50.

E a s t l e i g h B o r o u g h Council, whose 25-year-old residents parking scheme now covers 4,000 homes, also gives free first permits.

"We recognise that many households in Eastleigh may need a car to get around and to work and don't penalise them for that," a spokesman said.

He added a £30 charge for a second permitted was intended to reflect administration costs and encourage the use of public transport.

Councils in the New Forest and Fareham that charge for all permits operate limited schemes.

Winchester started charging for permits when it launched its scheme in response to the problem of student parking.

Belinda Rounce, marketing assistant, 24, of Liverpool Street, Southampton is angry at the parking policy: "I already pay council tax and road tax so I don't really see why I should have to pay to park outside my own home.

"It's all right for people with garages who can get round it, but we don't have that option. Quite often there's nowhere to park on our road anyway, so why should we have to pay for a space that might not even exist?

"I don't mind paying for the second one because I can understand the problems of having multiple cars but having to pay for one is ridiculous.

"They should ditch the policy and not just put it off for a year to keep people happy."