Hinderwell Parish Council will look into the proposal as it attempts to combat what is sees as the traffic "chaos" in the village.

Members of the council, including chairman Dave Mitchell, will meet with members of North Yorkshire County Council's Highways department although any new legislation would need the backing of the police. It is hoped the new laws could be in force by Easter 2009.

The area of concern is vehicles driving into the bottom of the village and not parking in the Bank Top car park.

Coun Mitchell told the council recently: "We need to make sure it is a mandatory road sign because then it is enforceable by law. It will be a police matter and a criminal offence.

"Obviously there would need to be exceptions for residents and people who are residing in the village.

"What we want is to restrict the numbers of cars coming into the village and going down there because at the minute it is chaos."

It would effectively stop visitors from driving into Staithes and those who disobey the warnings would face prosecution by the police.

There were also calls from councillors to see the 40 minute car parking in Staithes enforced better.

There was also an appeal for parking attendants to spend more time in the village during busy periods.

One councillor claimed that the parking warden was not currently enforcing the laws rigidly and some people had been getting away with staying for well over 40 minutes.

Another idea was to extend double yellow lines in the village to stop people parking on the streets during the summer when traffic is at its worst.

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