RESIDENTS living near the Galpharm Stadium are to get parking permits after a long battle.

And they are delighted with their victory – six months after Kirklees councillors refused the scheme.

People living in several streets in Rawthorpe had complained that football and rugby fans were making their lives a misery by leaving their cars all over the streets on match days.

Twenty signed a petition calling for residents only parking at Brown Royd Avenue, one of the worst affected areas.

But in March, Kirklees Council’s cabinet turned down the £10,000 scheme, saying that permit parking in the area could not be justified.

However ward councillors agreed with residents that parking restrictions were needed and took up the fight.

Now the permit scheme will come into force later this month.

The parking scheme could spell the end to years of misery for people living near to the stadium.

Many fans park their cars all over the Rawthorpe housing estate and then walk down Bradley Mills Lane to the Stadium.

Fans have been caught parking there at junctions, on verges, across driveways and on double yellow lines.

The Examiner reported in the past that the bad parking meant that emergency vehicles including fire engines were struggling to get through, potentially putting lives at risk.

Police started handing out fixed penalty fines to supporters flouting the parking rules.

The permit parking scheme, which starts on September 30, may help ease the problems.

Properties in Brown Royd Avenue, Foxlow Avenue, Nether Close, Nether Crescent, Nether Hall Avenue, Rawthorpe Crescent and Rawthorpe Terrace will be covered by the scheme.

The parking places will operate on the roads at all times and days.

The scheme will run for an initial nine months, although the council will consider making it permanent.

A council spokeswoman confirmed that the order will be enforced from the end of this month.

She added: “The cabinet report on the petition recommended that permit parking could not be justified if paid for from mainstream sources.

“However, the ward councillors subsequently decided that this scheme was one which they felt should be introduced and paid for out of local funds.

“The scheme will be introduced as an experimental traffic order.

“This allows us to introduce the order for a limited time period during which we can monitor the effects upon residential and non-residential parking.”