THOUSANDS of York residents are getting the chance to air their views on the city's resident's priority parking scheme.

The scheme, known as Respark, which is provided for an annual fee and covers about 8,000 residents, has operated in York for the last 15 years.

It was devised in response to residents' concerns at the problems of people from outside the city using residential streets to park their vehicles.

The scheme provides priority parking for people living and working within designated identified zones.

Parking services manager Bill Bird said: "Respark has grown significantly as a successful and popular scheme and as a model for other councils setting up similar operations around the country."

The details of how the scheme operates are now being reviewed by the council under the Government's Best Value process.

Mr Bird said: "It is essential that we provide a first-class service for all our customers.

"It is important that we contact our customers and allow them to tell us how we are performing and what we can do to improve.

"All the residents in the Respark scheme are to receive a short questionnaire which will allow them to indicate any particular problem areas."

Over the last four years a number of improvements have been made to the service in response to customer suggestions.

These have included:

- A freephone helpline number linked to pagers issued to enforcement staff

- Mobile patrols allowing speedy reaction to customer complaints

- New improved permits designed to prevent fraudulent use

- A fully-staffed Saturday reception to allow motorists to collect permits and make general inquires.

Following the survey, residents from each zone will be invited to a focus group meeting to discuss the issues covered in the report and to agree an action plan on possible improvements.

Updated: 16:18 Monday, June 17, 2002