Supporters of residents' parking zones for Bristol have taken consultation into their own hands to find out what scheme would be best for their neighbourhood.

Campaign group Yes to RPZ in Kingsdown and Brandon Hill was set up in response to the "no" campaign, which claimed the city council's own consultation on RPZs was biased.

Stephen Perry, of Clifton Wood, set up the "yes" group to prove there was support for the zones, which he says are badly needed to deal with on-street parking.

He and his fellow campaigners have sent out leaflets asking people what they think the final scheme should look like, and the results will be passed on to the council.

Questions include how many pay-and-display bays should there be and where; what days should the scheme operate; where should the boundaries be and should motorbikes be able to park for free.

Under the council's proposals households would have to pay for the right to park: £30 for one vehicle, £110 for two and £310 for three, and up to £50 on visitor permits.

Following consultation in the summer, the council agreed to push forward with pilot schemes in Brandon Hill and Kingsdown, where more than half of the people who returned questionnaires indicated their support.

Opponents argued introducing two pilots zones would only spread the problem elsewhere, making them the thin end of the wedge that would eventually lead to Bristol becoming one big restricted parking zone.

But at a meeting last month, councillors agreed officers would draft a fully costed and detailed version of the pilots to be presented to the public later this year.

The council has yet to decide how it will gauge the opinion of people living in the proposed pilot zones, but if the schemes are backed by a majority they will go back to cabinet for the final say-so, with an aim to begin by the end of the year or early 2010.

The proposed pilot zones currently cover about 3,200 properties,

Mr Perry said: "The 'no' campaign has had its own way in Bristol for years. But no longer.

"The Yes to RPZ team are determined to maintain the initiative, having grabbed it during past two months from the keep parking free campaign.

"At the call-in committee in early January the statements submitted from the public in favour of the scheme, totalling 88, were overwhelmingly in the majority.

"Rarely, if ever, has a Bristol council meeting received so many individually written submissions from the public.

"We believe a scheme urgently needs to be introduced, but it needs to be done the right way.

"While supporting the scheme as devised, we understand the devil will be in the detail. That's what we are now engaged in.

"Once we have everyone's responses, we will prepare a summary report and send that plus a copy of each individual message we receive to the city's transport department."

A council spokesman said a "public engagement exercise" to work out the details was due later this month. He said: "In the meantime, residents are gathering their own information and building networks, a move which the council fully supports.

"We are keen to get as full a picture as possible through all channels."