Furious neighbours fear "horrendous" parking issues in their residential street will get even worse if police snap up two parking spaces.

Residents in Gordon Road, Herne Bay, face the prospect of losing the precious bays to accommodate officers using the town's police station.

Force bosses want the area in front of their site to be dedicated to police use, citing “problems gaining access to the station”.

But Chris Wooldridge, who lives in the road with partner Phoebe and his young family, claims officers "have no trouble" getting in or out of the site.

The father-of-two only says he only found out about the plans, which are being considered by Canterbury City Council, when a public notice was cable-tied to a lamppost near his home.

“We’ve lived here for two years, and spent a year before that renovating,” he said.

“To be honest, within the first few months we thought about moving because the parking is just horrendous.

“Down this road it’s always been a nightmare, especially when you’ve got two kids and a bit of shopping.

“And now seeing police try and take valuable parking spaces from residents, it doesn’t feel very community-like from them."

If the changes are brought in, two spaces outside the station would become designated police parking bays.

But residents say that while a notice had been in the window of the station trying to prevent people from parking there, no road markings are in place to enforce it.

“There are no vehicles blocking their access, they’ve got two gated areas that don’t ever seem to get used," Mr Wooldridge added.

“It just feels like they don’t want to have to move a car when the rest of us have to struggle with the kids and the shopping.”

Mr Wooldridge thinks wider changes are needed to the parking system in Gordon Road as spaces are often taken up by non-residents.

“I’ve seen people park here to go to work, families park here to go to the cinema, it’s free parking so people bring their cars and leave them here," he said.

“I don’t think anybody’s happy with the situation as it is.

“Some of us are happy to even have this road turned into permit parking.

“It would need 75% of residents to agree which might be a bit difficult but for a quid a week, I’d rather park my car as close to home as possible.”

Elsewhere in the road, Clive Murren, who has lived opposite the police station for more than 10 years, echoed support for the possibility of permits being introduced.

“The level of poor parking for the residents is just ridiculous now," he said.

“We would even consider a permit situation if necessary in order to be able to improve matters.

“The police have all the way round the back of the station, but that’s always empty.

“People are just under stress about where to park, when they live here.”

In response to the residents' concerns, Canterbury District Commander Chief Inspector Mark Hedges said the two bays outside the station were previously designated for police use only.

He said: “The road markings wore away over the years and we have asked for them to be repainted to give the range of vehicles used by Kent Police better access to the station, and to stop larger public vehicles hindering exit and entrance when using these spaces.”

Residents affected have until Friday, February 10 to send objections to the city council.