CAR owners in Darlington will be asked to move their vehicles to allow street-cleaning to go ahead.

Parked cars are said to be getting in the way of the borough council's new cleaning scheme.

The work in the pilot areas - Eastbourne, Lascelles, Lingfield and Middleton St George - has been successful and street cleaning could be extended to other parts of the borough, the council's public protection and community scrutiny committee heard this week.

Councillor Dorothy Long said she was worried about her ward, Northgate.

She said: "There is a big problem with parking making it hard for gullies to be cleaned.

"Are the teams doing the nitty-gritty? If not, is it time to consider getting people to move their cars on a specific day, which I know will be difficult?"

The council's assistant environmental services director, Ian Thompson, said: "There might be a need to ask people to park elsewhere, so we can do a full sweep of a street."