RESIDENTS in Weymouth and Portland are being urged to contact Dorset County Council if they want to renew their parking permit.

It comes after the county council took over responsibility for on-street parking including residents' parking permits from Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.

In the past, reminder letters were sent out by the borough council ahead of new permits being issued for the year on June 1.

But DCC is not sending letters and is instead relying on people to go online.

The issue has been highlighted by Park District resident Dave Burchill who is concerned that some people may forget to renew their permit and do not have access to a computer.

He said: "People need to know that it has changed and we now have to deal with the county council."

Mr Burchill added: "I would ask for a moratorium agreed with the parking attendants for the first week of June to allow residents to get their permits sorted out."

A spokesman for Dorset County Council said: "Applications for permits can be submitted via email, through the post or in person at our offices.

"We have been unable to send out reminder letters for this current year as we were unable to convert the data supplied by Weymouth & Portland Borough Council to our system. "Once permits have been issued by Dorset County Council reminders will be sent in the future."

Contact Dorset County Council Parking Services at County Hall in Dorchester, by email at parking@dorsetcc.gov.uk call 01305 228110 or see dorsetforyou.com