Bright yellow cobbles could be laid in Newport to stamp out illegal parking, it was revealed today.

It is one of the ideas being discussed by transport chiefs to stop the parking free for all in St Mary Street.

Telford & Wrekin Council and West Mercia Police are looking into the possibility of replacing some of the traditional cobbles with the colourful stones to create double yellow lines.

At present police officers cannot enforce a 30-minute time limit for parking because paint doesn’t stick to the cobbles’ surface. Once broken the lines are no longer legal.

Dave Parry, policing officer for Newport, said: “One of the ideas mentioned to solve the parking problem on St Mary Street is to replace some of the traditional brown cobbles with yellow inserts.

“There is no point in re-painting the cobbles because the paint does not stick. We have no idea about timescales but we are looking forward to the situation being resolved.”

Councillor Peter Scott, Newport Community Safety Committee member, said: “A lot of people park on the double yellow lines for much longer than the 30 minutes allowed – on Saturday I saw a car there for seven hours.

“At the last community safety meeting it was said that there is no point in re-painting the cobbles.

“A more permanent suggestion was to replace some of the brown cobbles with yellow ones.

“That way the lines won’t fade.”

Councillor Shaun Davies, for Shropshire Council, said: “The council is working to change the way that on street parking is provided on St Mary’s Street, recognising the street’s particular character we are trying to minimise the amount of signs and road markings required, but still provide the same level of parking as there is currently.

“A specific challenge on St Mary’s Street is that road markings do not last well on cobbles, so we are looking at options to minimise the amount of road markings required and the ones that are required to show parking bays are as durable as possible.”

By Joseph Masi