Parents fearing for their children’s safety have asked for a ban on cars outside their school.
Mum Sarah Kingdom spoke on behalf of parents at Westdene Primary School in Bankside, Brighton, who want to see timed “School Street” closures as pioneered by Hackney Council in London.
In Hackney, streets around a school temporarily become pedestrian and cycles only at set times in the morning and afternoon.
Vehicles are not permitted to enter the street between these times unless they have been granted an exemption, such as for residents and blue badge holders.
Mrs Kingdom’s deputation on behalf of Westdene School parents went before Brighton and Hove City Council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee on Tuesday 26 November, calling for closures was well received by councillors from all parties.
The school is encircled by Dene Vale, Mill Rise and Bankside, which are only wide enough for one car to pass.
Mrs Kingdom described parents dropping children off at school straight out of their car, blocking the road and doors swinging out onto the pavement filled with children.
She said there had been many near misses, as children were nearly hit by cars.
Mrs Kingdom said: “There is a lot of illegal parking, a lot of cars on pavements, people blocking double yellows and so on.
“There is a lot of stress also caused by this as well as danger.
“Operation Crackdown we report to dutifully, encouragement of walking to school, it just doesn’t work.”
Parents would also like drivers dropping children to school to use the park and ride at Withdean Stadium just down the road.
Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee chair Labour councillor Anne Pissaridou said the council’s school travel officers are trained in the Schools Streets Project.
Earlier this year a successful trial was carried out outside St Luke’s School in Queen’s Park Rise.
Councillor Pissaridou said: “Careful community engagement would be necessary and support from headteachers, governors, pupils, parents, councillors and residents would need to be considered.
“Some of the good work undertaken and underway includes updating travel plans and road safety interventions with the Sussex Safer Roads partnership.”
I’m a resident of Westdene who lives one road away from the school. The parents have no consideration when parking, my drive is always being blocked. Why doesn’t the school offer a free bus service or car sharing? It would reduce the number of cars being parked illegally. Something has to be done.
Who would pay for the free bus service though? School budgets are so stretched I can’t think they could stretch to this when some are having to cut teaching or support staff posts. I think this scheme sounds great; hopefully you would see some positive results if implemented.
I have lived in Mill Rise adjacent to Bankside for 33 years. School run time has always been interesting but recently the traffic situation has become totally mad!
Mill Rise and Bankside are both two-way roads with only space for one car to pass at a time. Cars have to dive into the driveway spaces to pass. However, due to the amount of traffic at these times the roads become gridlocked with cars having to backup into the driveway spaces. During the past eight months all three of our cars have been damaged whilst parked outside of our house. On two occasions it has been Mums that have left their details. However, when my daughter’s car was driven into on Tuesday this week, the driver just drove off, leaving her many hundreds of pounds out of pocket!
Something needs to be done soon before somebody gets hurt not just in the pocket!