PARKING problems at a parade of shops in Chandler's Ford have prompted a leading councillor to call for a road-widening scheme.

The lack of parking in Ashdown Road at Hiltingbury has worsened over the past year with parking slots behind and to the side of the shops reduced by the construction of flats at Hiltingbury Heights.

Spaces at the front of the shops had already been reduced by brick planting beds installed by the council.

The situation has been branded a safety hazard by Councillor Colin Davidovitz, pictured.

Speaking at a meeting of the borough's Chandler's Ford and Hiltingbury Local Area Committee, he warned that the rear car park was about to shrink further.

"We have the prospect of more spaces being lost as a result of a planned extension behind flats in Sycamore Road," he told committee colleagues.

Committee chairman Godfrey Olson said the small area left behind the shops would be reserved for delivery vehicles.

Britain's biggest supermarket company has taken over the convenience store that dominates the parade and Mr Olson suggested that the company's success was adding to the headaches. He said: "Not only have we got Tesco attracting more customers, we've also got a very much smaller car parking area."

Councillor Mike Hughes, described the situation as "chaos" and said he was particularly concerned about congestion on Sunday mornings, when parents of young footballers playing at Hiltingbury recreation ground parked round the corner in Hiltingbury Road. Committee members agreed to ask the council's engineering chief to suggest ways of easing the parking problem through a feasibility study concentrating on Ashdown Road.

Cllr Davidovitz said: "I'd like the engineers to see if they can widen the roadway at the bottom of Ashdown Road."