RESIDENTS against permit parking have vowed to battle on following a largely successful campaign against its introduction across Leyton and Leytonstone.

Waltham Forest Council controversially launched a consultation last month asking households in 280 roads if they wanted "temporary" Olympic restrictions to be made permanent.

But the Contolled Parking Zone (CPZ) plans were emphatically rejected by the majority of respondents in 271 streets amid concerns about the impact on local businesses and the costs to residents.

However campaigners say questions remain following reports that hundreds of residents were not sent consultation voting forms.

Doubts have also been raised about the validity of the results in the remaining streets.

Claudette Samuel, of Melford Road in Leytonstone, said: "We need answers about what went wrong and we need to make sure this does not happen again.

"We want to take it further. The council has a history of holding CPZ consultations in the same streets again and again, to keep coming back is almost a form of harassment.“

Campaigners are due to hold a public meeting at the Ivory Mansion in Leytonstone High Road on Thursday (November 8) at 7pm.

Ms Samuel added: "We also need to work together and see how they do things in other boroughs, otherwise this will just keep coming up again”.

The council has so far not publicly acknowledged any problems with the distribution of the consultation forms.

But Liberal Democrat councillor Bob Sullivan said the cabinet member responsible, Cllr Clyde Loakes, had told him the council had withheld payment to its contractors who were meant to deliver the voting slips.

Campaigners have also renewed demands to know how much the consultation cost.

They were also stunned by a letter from Cllr Loakes and his fellow ward councillors to their constituents which indicated they were aware the proposals were widely unpopular.

It said: "We are not at all surprised by the results of the [consultation] vote...having spoken to many local residents over the past six months we expected the following result”.

Campaigner Joe Dyer said: “It doesn't make sense. Why spent money on a consultation if you know most people don't want it? It was a waste of time”.

The roads which are now set to have CPZs are Windsor, Buckingham, Osborne, Balmoral and Brisbane Roads in Leyton along with Sandringham, Peterborough Roads and West End Lane.

The Guardian is awaiting a comment from the council.

Cllr Loakes has previously said that the Olympic parking restrictions provided a unique opportunity to gauge the views of residents across the south of the borough.