People living in a part of The Mounts, Northampton, say current rules are letting motorists who do not live in the area park in their streets, leaving residents with nowhere to leave their cars.
Parking permits for residents run from 8am to 6pm, b
ut a survey conducted by Octagon Residents' Association found 96.7 per cent of people want the time extended to 10pm.
Wolfgang Deicke, of the group, said people are parking in the streets – Somerset Street, Cloutsham Street, Alcombe Road, Alcombe Terrace and Dunster Street – after 6pm and going into town.
He said: "If the hours were extended this would create parking spaces for residents coming home from work after 6pm.
"The current rules are not working for most of the residents.
"We understand there are businesses in the area who depend on parking spaces for customers, but most of them would be happy with one or two hour limits on the free spaces."
More than 180 residents took part in the survey, which showed 96.7 per cent of people wanted the paved areas on the roads to be turned into extra parking bays.
But Andy Leyton, from Northamptonshire County Council's parking services department, said this was unlikely to happen because of cost.
The results of the survey were presented at a meeting of the residents' association last week, which was attended by Mr Leyton.
On average about half of the parking on the streets is free, but the research showed 85 per cent of people wanted the free bays reduced to 25 per cent.
The majority of residents said they disagreed with a charge for visitors' permits and 71.2 per cent of the respondents said there should be a limit to the number of residents' permits per household.
And more than half of people said they wanted the visitors' permits, which run from 10am to 6pm, to cover the same hours as the residents' permits.
People have previously complained that the permits, which cost £25 a year, do not enable them to park in their own street.
The residents' association, which was formed in the summer, has claimed the county council is missing out on £300,000 a year by not charging people to park in the free spaces.
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