TRAFFIC chaos caused by students at a Winchester school has got so bad that emergency services access to nearby roads is in danger of being blocked, councillors have been told.

Sixth formers at Peter Symonds College are being blamed for obstructing Lynford Avenue and Lynford Way when they park as near to the campus as possible to attend lessons.

City traffic chiefs are set to bring in new parking restrictions on the two roads in a bid to clear the congestion.

They will impose a single yellow line "no waiting" restriction on one side of the roads so no one could park there between 8am to 6pm from Mondays to Saturdays.

Most residents will be unaffected as they have off-street parking.

They are acting after the council received dozens of letters of complaint from residents concerned about the issue.

A report to the City Council's Cabinet states: "The issue of parking in Lynford Avenue and Lynford Way has been the subject of considerable correspondence and earlier consultations.

"However, the problem resulting from inconsiderate parking, mainly by students of Peter Symonds College, is now regularly causing serious access problems and it was agreed to pursue the introduction of waiting restrictions in order to ensure access to these roads is maintained - especially in respect to emergency services."

Rachel Fullerton, 27, a teacher from nearby Bereweeke Avenue, said: "It's a big problem for people living on those roads, I know that.

"The thing is there's nowhere for the students to park and so they use these two roads as they are the nearest places without restrictions.

"The problem is this will only work if the council then enforces its rules, otherwise the kids will just find somewhere else to park and shift the problem to another road in Weeke.

"I think really the college should do more to either find a car park for their students, or better still, encourage them not to drive in at all."

A spokesman for Peter Symonds College said: "We know Winchester as a city has a problem with parking and we do encourage our students not to block other people's access and to be considerate at all times."

Winchester City Council's Cabinet is set to confirm the "no waiting" restrictions when it meets tomorrow.