AIBU to think school street restrictions and PCNs will cause more chaos?

what is the catchment area for the school? if it is less than 1.5km there is surely no reason for the very largest majority to be walked to school.

I can't believe a lot of people think you're being unreasonable.

• The concerns about delivery are legit. The last delivery I had (furniture) was between 7-1 with no option to change/edit- Currys don't care about school exemption zones! They'll just turn up and log it as a failed delivery. You can try to leave a note, but it is a delivery window.

• Disabled/elderly people can apply for a pass, but their ad-hoc carers/community nurses can't. Also, applying for a pass is likely to be an online job- that in itself is likely to restrict those groups who are typically vulnerable.

• I don't think it's necessarily fair to the people who bought a house several streets away from a school!

• Most pupils will live within a mile. It's walkable for the majority. I understand there will be parents who work, but there will be plenty who don't, or work from home, or have a day off who could walk but will choose to drive because as a society we're lazy!

This is a school run in Manchester, firstly no running in involved and how do people think delivery drivers, emergency services, district nurses, residents get in or out?

All schools/councils should have a lroactive parking plan, taming into account actual behaviour not just what they think parents should do. For example, during a school dusco recently lots of parents parked in residents parking bays for 90 minutes in the evening... when the residents were returning home from work. Then got abusive when the residents just parked behind them. But parking there was "tolerated" for school pick up and drop off but it was safe, for 10 minutes and the residents were out.

No longer toletmrated.. they are now being actively stopped from parking there. Great example of being given an inche and taking a mile. (For clarity... private road, parking area owned by residents)

I'm wondering if OP is a teacher at the school, from out of borough, and will now have to park a few streets away. The parking on our street is much easier now a school street has been introduced and the roads are no longer clogged with the cars of school staff all day.

I agree school streets just move the problem further away but sometimes to a road better suited to the congestion.

Anybody trying to get a taxi or a delivery at school drop off and kick out surely going to have problems anyway because it's so busy. I think people make this accommodation before they move next to a school. I feel bad for the homes who are now in the new drop off zone. They didn't sign up for this!

Interesting they are policing it via cameras and PCN. Money making for Salford Council. They dropped our school street (Trafford) as could not get volunteers to run it. I'm guessing they might do the same thing copying Salford.

Yes indeed, all because of selfish drivers & their bad behaviour- the few make it difficult for so many people

I’d be happy with bollards on the pavement to permanently prevent drivers, with parking or driving along the pavement

I work in a Community Nurse team that picks patients up from the floor much like the ambulance service do. We have to use our own cars but carry heavy lifting equipment as well as rucksack for obs kit - that would be a nightmare for us to be fair!

What is needed is enforcement of parking redtrictions, not merely driving down a road.

what this means in reality is hundreds of houses aren’t allowed any deliveries, no taxis and no none essential building workers in the area every school workday between 8am and 9.30 and 2.30 and 3.45

that is the reality of living near a school. I organise deliveries, workman etc to arrive before 8am or after 9:30 and same in the afternoon. I organise my life to leave my house before 8:15 or after 9:15 and similar in the afternoon

there are parents parked on the corner of the road, blocking the dropped crossing or any chance of getting round the corner safely. Then cars banked down two sides of pavement so only one person can squeeze past the car and not enough space for a double buggy - it’s comple carnage and very dangerous

at least if it was school street with permits it’d be safe for the children to walk

And Swinton isn't close to the border of another borough

They can apply for exemption permits

Delivery drivers have to take account of so many different rules on the roads, different speed limits, parking restrictions, access rules etc. I think they will just have to accommodate this when planning their routes I think.

No we have one here everyone gets things fine. They go around or come outside of the 2 hours the road is closed. Most delivery companies plan routes based on restriction times it’s part of the job. And closures are never for more than 1/1.5 in am and pm so still do able in 2 hr delivery windows

Agree it’s stupid. It will just push the congestion to the edges of the zone!

I think it goes too far, I'd prefer them to have much lower speed limits at the appropriate times, which are properly policed and upheld. Then I'd also think a renewed focus on road and pedestrian safety awareness would be sensible. This just seems to make life unnecessarily hard for some of the most vulnerable.

When were you last able to schedule the majority of your deliveries? I have no control over courier timings, I can’t ring Yodel up and dictate times. Even stuff like when the water company last came out you don’t get a time slot, you get told morning or afternoon. I guess a Sainsburys delivery you could schedule though it would probably mean you can’t use a cheaper saver slot with a broader time window.

i guess maybe the local delivery firms would soon get to know and hopefully schedule their routes appropriately 🤷‍♀️

I did read about a similar scheme and the residents hated it because of this, caused no end of problems. What do they do if you need a district nurse visit/carers visit. OP, I’d contact my MP and ask them about it!

here are people who say the problem just gets moved

https://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/25166760.redbridge-neighbours-blame-school-streets-traffic-chaos/

I would ask to see the Equality Impact Assessment to ensure that disabled residents aren't disadvantaged by not being able to have a carer, taxi etc during those times.

An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) is an evidence-based tool used to analyze policies, services, or functions to ensure they do not disadvantage, discriminate against, or produce negative impacts on people with protected characteristics. It helps organizations meet legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 to promote equality and mitigate risks.

That's a large area for a school street.

There are quite a few near us. The nearest one I've looked into a bit because it was being used by a lot of vehicles.
It turns out that the traffic order allows use of the school street by vehicles authorised by the school. It is like a private drop off road for the school now because of the allowed taxis, cars and minibus. It is a SEN school, but the hypocracey of not allowing non school vehicles to use it for the safety of the children, but then encouraging use for school vehicles doesn't sit well with me.

More privatisation of public space.

This is the norm in london tbh, the delivery drivers usually park close by and walk to your home. For a heavy delivery contact them and explain x

Sorry if someone else has already asked this, what about care workers, district nurses, health visitors, emergency services, bin lorries and other essential services? Do they have to comply too?

It sounds awful. We used to in a Low Traffic Neighbourhood which was enforced on us by the local authority and it was absolutely horrendous, one of the main reasons we moved was because of it. I think all these schemes are about raising revenue. Quite frankly, my view is that life is hard enough already without the imposition of these arbitrary access restrictions.

Have you seen the satellite view of those streets? It's literally all cul de sacs.

Given this is a snapshot of the situation during school hours (because there are some kids in the playground but nits not heaving) I'd love to know, with crosses on the map, where OP thinks it would be safe to park. Or how any ambulance could reasonably access a property during peak times.

We have a school street near us. Ok, the actual school road is reasonably empty of cars at drop-off and pick-up times.

But does that mean all the parents that used to park there are now walking to school? Of course it doesn’t!

All that has happened is that all the parking has been displaced, from the school street to the neighbouring side roads (which are all cul-de-sacs, so you have lots of cars doing turns in the road - very safe with all the children walking around there (the school street itself is not a cul-de-sac)) and to the main road at the end of the school street, causing big traffic jams as the road is not really wide enough to cope with cars parked up on either side. Not to mention all the parents dodging across the main road with their children, because they can’t be bothered to walk to the pelican crossing.

So on the whole, has the school street made things safer, or better? I really don’t think it has.

OP, YANBU. Maybe if all the children were taught road safety, and if all the parents controlled their children properly, and if all the parents had obeyed the no-parking markings right outside the school gates, then there wouldn’t be a need for school streets. Just a thought.