Opposition to parking permits has topped 400 people.

And the petition will be presented to Kirklees Cabinet ahead of a crucial budget meeting next week.

Organised by the Kirklees Liberal Democrat party, the petition asked for people to sign to oppose the introduction of annual charges for residential parking permits.

Kirklees Council has suggested a £30 charge for up to 9,000 people living in 320 locations as part of its draft budget proposals, including people living around Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

Clr Cahal Burke, who organised the petition, will hand it to Labour Cabinet members when they consider budget proposals for 2014/15.

Clr Burke said: “Like residents living on the roads near to Huddersfield Royal, I am first and foremost against this policy.

“It is unfair to choose to charge some people for the ability to park outside their own homes based on where they happen to live.

“If the council needs to generate income, it needs to focus its attention on other areas of enforcement such as misuse of bus lanes, speeding, fly-tipping and littering.

“If the Cabinet does force it through, they should exempt the roads near HRI on the grounds that the residents there find themselves in unique circumstances, living, as they do, next door to Huddersfield’s largest 24-hours, seven-days-a-week frontline public sector service provider.”

The council’s proposal is in a bid to recoup the administration cost of issuing the permits, which amounts to £160,000 a year.

Clr Burke’s ward colleagues, Conservative members Clrs Tony Brice and Mark Hemingway, have also spoken out against the permit charge.

In a joint statement, they said: “It is not unreasonable for residents to expect to be able to park in the vicinity of their own homes, and they shouldn’t have to pay extra for such a facility.

“We are in no doubt that once such charges are introduced in Kirklees, it will become difficult to remove them, and more than likely they will be increased on an annual basis.”