Council chiefs are to consult on bringing in a Controlled Parking Zone (CZP) on some of East Sheen's most crowded parkside roads.

Residents are concerned that some roads have become a free car park for people visiting the shops on the Upper Richmond Road and commuters using Mortlake Station.

They want controls that will limit parking to residents, who will be required to pay for permits, and visitors with vouchers.

The move to consult on establishing a CPZ follows a plea from the East Sheen Lib-Dem Councillor, Julia Cambridge, who raised the issue at a Council Transport Committee this week.

Cllr Cambridge said a long-standing problem of parking on these parkside streets has been made worse following the introduction of the ULEZ – Ultra Low Emission Zone – last year.

Some people who live within the new ULEZ, which runs up to the border of the South Circular/Upper Richmond Road, are parking older polluting cars on parkside streets to avoid being caught by charges.

The idea of introducing a CPZ in the area has proved to be highly controversial in the past after a number of residents objected to being forced to pay for permits to park outside their homes.

Now, a number of people in four streets – such as Wollorton Gardens and nearby Gilpin Avenue as well as Muirdown Road and Shrewsbury Avenue – are petitioning for the adoption of a CPZ.

Cllr Cambridge asked the Transport Committee to bring forward a consultation to allow residents to decide on what should be done to tackle parking problems.

She told the Committee residents from the four roads – and East Sheen Avenue – are passionate about the need for parking controls. And many residents were present at the meeting to support action.

"I am asking the council to prioritise a CPZ consultation for these four roads and capture the roads, including East Sheen Avenue, in that consultation," she said.

She said that following the expansion of the ULEZ: "The parkside roads … suddenly became a free giant car park for displaced non-compliant ULEZ vehicles."

As a result, she said: "Their needs have now become quite critical."

Cllr Cambridge said households who want controlled parking should be allowed to have it. But she stressed it is important not to force residents in other streets to be dragged into a CPZ against their will.

"I am not here to say where I support a CPZ …That is for residents to determine," she said.

The East Sheen ward is expected to be particularly fiercely fought in the local elections in May. Currently it is split between the Tories and the Lib-Dems.

In a sign of battles to come, Cllr Cambridge accused her Conservative rivals of 'sedentary braying' on the issue of parking.

Conservative East Sheen councillor, Seamus Joyce, told the committee his party would like a CPZ to cover the entire parkside area.

He said: "We all fully support a CPZ for parkside, but our vision is not to just pick four roads… We would include all of parkside and would support a consultation for all of parkside.

"The danger is that if you just have four roads that will have traffic displacement."

The Lib-Dem committee chairman, Alexander Ehmann, confirmed a CPZ consultation will go ahead if the party retains control of the Council in May.

He said: "We will seek to conduct a consultation within the 2022 year and as soon as possible within that 2022 year. We will do so on as wide a basis as officers judge appropriate.

"One of the things I am conscious of … is yes there is strong feeling in a number of roads that have petitioned us. But it would be wrong for us to not take consideration of the adjacent impact if those roads were to adopt CPZ controls.

"So we want to make sure that other roads are also considered."