REDDITCH residents near a sports centre have accused 'pumped up' gym goers of ruining their lives.

People who live on Green Sward Lane in Matchborough claim their lives are being made hell because people using Arrow Vale Sports Centre sports centre keep parking on the road.

The sports centre is owned by RSA Academy Arrow Vale.

Fed up locals have said that once school ends the sports centre opens, and it is open seven days a week until 10pm.

They say that there is no space for people who live on the road to park, and it is a daily occurrence.

One furious resident said: "We understand living by a school we will have school traffic twice a day for 10 to 15 minutes a day.

"We do not expect to have this parking issue seven days a week or for our close to become a race track with people who have used the sports centre coming out pumped up and driving at ridiculous speeds up and down the close.

"There is also the environmental issue. The trees and hedges are starting to die off due to the pollution from idling car engines. Imagine what it’s doing to us residents and our health."

They added: "The school has a large car park off Matchborough Way, if they promoted this it would solve the problem to a large degree.

"The school has on numerous occasions said it will tackle the problem by putting the sports centre address as Matchborough Way with the Matchborough Way post code and directing customers to use the Matchborough Way car park.

"This is just lip service as the sports centre still has Green Sward Lane listed on its website as its address and post code."

Ian Mellor, academy principal, said: “We appreciate local residents’ frustrations regarding parking within the surrounding areas of the Arrow Vale Sports Centre during the evenings.

"We understand that this has been an ongoing issue for several years now and the academy has done all it can during this time to help try and alleviate the issue.

"This includes investing in new signage, which clearly directs visitors where to go, requested and was granted a change of postcode, changing our livery and website to include the new postcode and highlight the most appropriate parking arrangements to all staff and visitors."

He added: "We liaised closely with customers and the local authorities throughout the process, and we hope that the issues will begin to improve in the near future.”