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

[Whatabouttheparcels]

a council near me are introducing school streets to stop congestion outside schools which is a great idea. They are introducing permit parking great

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

A permanent career can get a pass but not random district nurses etc. imagine telling delivery firms they can’t deliver at these times or they will get a PCN. Anyone saying they should use lockers, my last delivery was a dishwasher

AIBU in thinking this is a stupid idea and school traffic will just park a bit further away and this will cause chaos?

https://www.salford.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/school-streets/frequently-asked-questions/

Clicky link or a photo (when approved) if people don’t want to click on the link

Oh right - I thought it was parked cars not closing off the whole road. I was picturing banning parking on the streets near to school so if you couldn't park for the 10 mins before dropping off the kids and the 10 mins after you'd have to park elsewhere.

There are a lot of councils in my area….

From the picture you can see it’s moving the problem to a bigger expanding school on the main road

They wanted to do it for my children's school which I live locally enough to, that it would have affected me as well. The street were able to lobby against it as realistically it was a terrible idea from a school perspective as it would have pushed parents onto the main road and caused carnage and been unsafe.

This is hugely unfair on the elderly and disabled and absolutely should not be implemented without considering their needs. Has anyone seen an equality impact assessment?

Please can you clarify.

Are you saying that Salford Council are making this change to your residential area, which is outside of their council zone?

Not sure where you live. There are lots of councils in my area……

Deliveries can be worked around and companies would adapt.

My main worry would be the impact on elderly people/disabled people who rely on taxis. What about morning appointments? Or the elderly person with dementia relying on getting a taxi to daycare in the morning which happens to start at 10am? Or you've pressed your falls pendant and can't get up?

Looking at that on satellite view on Google, I'm not surprised they've done it. It's a load of cul de sacs and driveways. It must be fucking chaos as a resident trying to leave or enter their property at that time. Or get an amnulance through.

And I honestly fail to see how a delivery driver could deliver at school hours anyway!

My elderly mum can’t get home by her much needed taxi. It’s completely ridiculous and yet again penalising the people who are law abiding and in her case, go out of her way to make life better and help others. 🤦‍♀️

That doesn't answer my question though. Do you live on one of those roads and are you saying that the wrong council is making regulations?

we have had this for 5 years in my local area, and i live in a school street. i have to remember to tell trades men to come before 8 or after 9.30, and my kids tutor has to start a lesson at 4.15 so after the 4pm reopening. but i whole heartedly prefer schools streets to the uncivil behaviour of parents who drive their kids to school. it is so much better.

If anyone in the zone is in need of a job, perhaps they should set up as a taxi driver.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.