DOUBLE-yellow lines are to be painted in parts of historic Kirkby Lonsdale, a South Lakeland local committee meeting heard.

The lines are to be painted on the B6254, on Binfield Croft, Lunefield Drive, Horse Market and Raygarth. The existing lines on Mill Brow will also be extended.

Some residents of Kirkby Lonsdale were opposed to the lines on aesthetic grounds and argued it was not needed in the area.

However, acting on instruction from emergency services, Cumbria County Council’s Local Committee for South Lakeland approved the plan.

Kirkby Lonsdale resident Amorelle Hughes, who lives in the Horse Market area, spoke out against the proposals at the meeting.

She said: “I am shocked and stunned about the plans to paint double yellow lines in Kirkby Lonsdale.

“Where I live, the painting of double yellow lines on a pinch point is unnecessary. Nobody ever parks there.

“Horse Market is an old part of town, in a conservation area, with lots of listed buildings. It seems perverse to ruin it. It is not a main thoroughfare and there is not much traffic on the narrow lanes.”

Ms Hughes had also collected more than 250 signatures on a petition opposing the lines.

Victoria Upton, CCC’s team leader for traffic management in the south of the county, explained that the only other option was to have heavy signage in the town explaining the restrictions.

She also pointed out that the lines painted in conservation areas were narrower, and a less intrusive shade of yellow.

Cllr Stan Collins said: “I can understand the objections to these yellow lines. People are going to be upset, but safety is something we cannot ignore.

“This was initiated by the emergency services. They spoke of an issue where they had to carry somebody a long way because the ambulance could not get to the site of an accident due to parked cars.”

Cllr Sue Sanderson also reassured Kirkby Lonsdale residents that yellow lines had been introduced - amid controversy - in her village of Cartmel, and the result was a reduction of cars in the centre and an improved “atmosphere in the village, where people do not have to fight their way through cars.”

“If it is any comfort, it has made a positive impact in our village,” she said.