DESPERATE residents have threatened to take matters into their own hands and paint traffic lines on roads — as they face a 16-year wait for the council to act.
County council highways chiefs have admitted they can only deal with four schemes a year and the waiting list currently stretches to 2028.
The news has been called “ridiculous” by councillors who say they are regularly deluged with calls from angry residents desperate for their parking problems to be solved.
Some householders have even threatened to take their own action as they are sick of waiting.
There are currently more than 70 requests from all over the borough for traffic measures, which are due to be investigated.
They include calls for double yellow lines, parking restrictions, disabled parking bays, school keep clear marks and waiting time restrictions.
County Councillor Len Bloomer said: "I worked out that it will be 2028 before we clear the backlog. I could quite easily go round my patch and add another six.
"The list is too big. Something has got to be done about it." Both borough and county councillors are now planning to meet with highways chiefs and urge them to lobby the Government for a change in legislation to cut red tape.
Councillor Frances Beatty, Stafford's cabinet member for planning and regeneration, told the borough council's joint parking committee: "It's Government legislation which is dictating the bureaucracy behind the traffic management orders. I have agreed a meeting with the cabinet member for the county council. I think we need to make representations to the Government. We have a 20-year waiting list here."
Chris Mitchell, county community highway liaison manager, said other districts had found other means to shorten their list through alternative revenue streams.
Committee chairman Judith Dalgarno added: "I'm appalled we have a list as long as this but rules are rules and we can't do anything about them at this time."
