A SHUTTLE bus service has been suggested as one possible way to relieve the parking nightmare around Amersham Hospital.

Chiltern District Council wants to stop patients from parking on a grass verge outside the hospital in Whielden Street as it says there is poor visibility for drivers getting back out onto the road.

About 50 car parking spaces are set to be lost through the plan which means that drivers will need to park elsewhere.

Residents fear that this extra parking will add to congestion in Amersham Old Town as drivers try to find alternative places to park.

Councillors have now called for the hospital itself to offer solutions after it was raised at a meeting of the Amersham Town Council Planning and Footpaths committee on Monday.

New parking measures, proposed by the district council (CDC), include building an earth mound, known as a bund, on the grass verge below the bridge to prevent up to 30 cars parking there illegally, and turning 19 on-street spaces into short-term spaces.

Councillor Martin Phillips, chairman of Monday's committee meeting, felt that the proposals were far from ideal.

He said: "They need to have a rethink with these; a little bit more imagination is required."

He said that a wider range of ideas was needed to alleviate the parking headaches in Amersham Old Town. His suggestions included moving car parking away from the hospital and using a shuttle bus to ferry patients between locations.

Cllr Davida Allen said: "The residents' main concern is at losing, in effect, 50 car parking spaces in the vicinity of the hospital, and that these will be displaced into the Old Town. It's felt generally that more parking for the hospital should be provided by the hospital.

"In Old Town, and in Whielden Street in particular, we're very short of properties with off-street parking. One poor gentleman there has to park in crazy places, like the Dovecote car park or the end of the High Street. It's gotten to the point where it's almost impossible to live there.

"Only lateral thinking on the part of the hospital can alter the problem, but nothing seems forthcoming."

She said that one problem was caused by the appointment system run by the hospital - many patients arrived for similarly timed appointments and there tended to be a "bunching up" of drivers seeking parking spaces at certain times of day.

The committee's recommendations have been submitted to CDC.