Parking...

[picklemepopcorn]

Does anyone know of a school where parking works? A new school is being built in my area, and everyone is up in arms about the parking plans. ie. there is none.

The school is going to be accessible by lots of footpaths, and the people living near the footpaths are worried about people parking on their road, getting blocked in etc. They don't like any of the suggested solutions, either. They basically want all the children dropped off at a turning circle and walked in by staff.

Any one know of anything that works?

There's a school near me that does turning circle drop off from Reception. People can park and walk the kids in if they want, but dropping and going is definitely encouraged!

cantkeepawayforever resident parking permits needed during school start/finish times might be an answer, except some residents might sell them on.

Make the exclusion zone large enough and you may not need to worry about car parks as less parents will drive and the remainder might get spread about anyway.

The big issue is whether the parents will drive near the school anyway.

Thank you all so much for sharing. It's really helping me.

I've never known ANY school to have parking for parents!

One school I worked at didn't even have sufficient parking for staff!

No BuggerOff, but that's because schools were mostly all built in the days when no-one drove their kids to school.

Today, for a new school, knowing that a reasonably significant enough proportion of parents will be driving their kids to school, planning needs to consider it, the same as if it was a new factory, shopping center or whatever. Sadly that does make it very difficult to build a new school, especially as it is different to the others where at a push you just suck up the cost of a multi-story car park, but that doesn't actually help with drop offs which are a different sort of traffic pressure.

As I say, I don't really think there is a solution other than making it cost prohibitive to park anywhere near through actual traffic enforcement of parking.

Everything else is completely impractical or expensive for schools.

No BuggerOff, but that's because schools were mostly all built in the days when no-one drove their kids to school.

My son's school was built less than 20 years ago. The one up the road from me was built in 2010, the one I used to work in was rebuilt in 2012 and the reason it didn't have enough parking for staff was regulations from the government stating that parking had to be reduced to discourage car use. The original car park had plenty of space but it had to be reduced and partly grassed over so that only a set percentage of staff can park. That was one of the reasons I left that school.

But I am in the greater London area, maybe it's different in more 'open' areas.

Pull up and drop off was the norm at the schools I went to. It was actually good for both parking problems and for parents (saves a lot of time).

Ttbb how big though were the schools and how many parents drove?

DS's school is a 3 form entry and I suspect 100 plus parents drive. Can't see how a pull up and drop off ( and pick up?) would work if they tried to implement it.

There is a fairly new primary school near us and they recently created a long line of parking on our road. It is a short walk from here to the school. The road is single carriageway but very wide, so they just narrowed the lanes and the pavement slightly to create the spaces. Parking is limited to 2 hours on weekdays. It has benefited local residents too as it means that visitors can park there for free in the evenings and all day at weekends. There is always lots of space.

I live near a school in a cul de sac. It's increased in size dramatically and access hasn't been improved at all. There's restrictions in the road the school is on so everyone parks in my street. It's an absolute nightmare. I had the temerity to come home at 3pm last week and got moaned at for parking in somones space. Another time I got back and couldn't get on my drive or park at all. Absolute joke. Nearly had a accident last week too as someone just pulled out without looking.

I'm planning to write to the council and request that we have parking restrictions during certain times as it's become ridiculous

I had the temerity to come home at 3pm last week and got moaned at for parking in somones space

Were they parking on your drive?! What did you say??

Not my drive, no. Just the spot outside my house. We've got three cars and can't park the third on the drive as it's a slope (the reason we can't park the third is because people park opposite it at school time and you can't get the angle to get off). Whoever is the third person back parks on the road.

If they parked on my drive I'd block them in and have a four hour bath.

Local school does the "drop off/pick up" and it doesn't actually stop the people from turning up half an hour early and sitting in the car. In fact if anything those parents are more entitled than most as they seem to think that dropping off at 9am means they're entitled to sit in the car on the yellow zig zags from 8:15 to make sure they can do that.

I've never known ANY school to have parking for parents!

The point is that any school should be thinking about where parents will park, even if it is not on site.

Will they park e.g. in a local pub, church or supermarket car park? Will they drop and run? Or will they park dangerously in local residential streets, causing havoc for residents and school parents who are on foot alike?

So thinking about school parking doesn't mean 'having a school car park big enough for all parents'. it means planning exactly where parents who drive their children to school will park, and implementing rules, policies and if necessary traffic signage to ensure it happens safely.

The problem with any kind of permit scheme is that it tends to cost residents annually, and still is only as good as the enforcement.

A drop off zone doesn't work at pick up time.