RESIDENTS in Yerbury Street are going to be dancing in the street when they celebrate the introduction of their resident parking scheme at the end of the month.

The scheme, which is the first in Trowbridge, will ensure that parking in the Trowbridge town centre street is only available to those people who live in the street and hold a permit from September 28.

It has taken two years of campaigning for the group of residents to finally achieve their goal, after setting up Yerbury Street Residents Association in October 2013.

Permit holders will have to pay £90 per year for each permit and will be able to buy permits for two cars, with Trowbridge Town and Wiltshire councils looking to use the scheme as a pilot for others in the town.

Julie Chowne, who has coordinated the parking campaign on behalf of the residents, said “Wiltshire Council has been really helpful in providing advice and assistance to achieve this.

“It has taken much longer than we expected but we are the very first in Trowbridge and hopefully other communities will now be able to do the same in their areas.

“We couldn’t have succeeded without the help of the councillors and officers at Trowbridge Town Council who have been really supportive of our efforts and who have definitely helped to open doors for us.

“Finally, our thanks go to Dennis Drewett, our county councillor, who understands how local authorities work and has been able to point us in the right direction from the very start. Overall, this has been a successful collaboration between a community group and local government.”

The residents started their campaign because of the problems they were experiencing with parking, the pressure on space and access to all homes in the street and the dangers for residents, particularly children and older people, posed by traffic.

Yerbury Street’s residents are now planning to celebrate with a small party on September 26 and will be inviting all of the people who have helped them in their long campaign to change environment in their street for the better.

Jill Annal, secretary of Yerbury Street Resident’s Association, said: “It’s great that we will now be able to park in our own street when we come home but that is only a small part of what this parking campaign has meant for us.

“Since we started meeting to talk about parking, things have changed in our street. We help each other out, socialise together and meet as an association to share gossip and news every 6 weeks. I’ve lived here for over 10 years and it really is good to know our neighbours.”