RESIDENTS living in Eastleigh's Kipling Road area have scored an exceedingly sweet victory by halting council moves to curb parking in their streets.

New housing and office developments coupled with the nation's runaway love affair with the car threaten to put huge pressure on parking space in the heart of the town centre.

Eastleigh Local Area Committee had been asked to back proposals for a controlled parking zone in the Kipling Road area which would have involved a residents' parking scheme.

The council's aim was to protect residents from parking spilling into their streets from the nearby housing development on the former Causton factory site.

There were also fears that a large office development on the Pirelli site could lead to commuters hunting for parking spaces in the Kipling Road area.

But the proposals triggered off a storm of protests with local residents claiming that parking restrictions would encourage rat-running.

Local resident Ted Ingram said at the meeting last night: "The scheme is unnecessary.

"We do not have a parking problem so why do we need this?"

Backing the residents, Councillor Peter Luffman said: "We should take notice of the residents. There are plenty of parking spaces in Kipling Road."

Councillors finally agreed to ditch the plans as well as proposals to include Burns Road, Burns Close and the Locksley Road area in a similiar zone.

But the town's new settlers on the former Causton site will have restricted parking.

Council chiefs say there is a need to have controlled parking because of the narrow roads and to follow the Whitehall planning dictate on reducing the level of parking provided on new housing developments.

Earlier Councillor Chris Thomas spoke of the nation's love affair with the car and added: "For some reason cars are getting bigger and bigger and we have less room to put them in."

He said that it was better to be proactive rather than reactive in controlling parking.