AN enforcement campaign to stop parents from parking inconsiderately outside schools will start immediately after more concerns were raised by councillors.
The ongoing matter has been discussed by members of the North East Area Council, who have instructed Kingdom Security - the enforcement firm it employs - to target schools at several hotspots due to persistent complaints from residents whose driveways are being blocked.
Primaries including Littleworth Grange, on Littleworth Lane, Lundwood, Shafton Primary Academy on High Street and Royston St John the Baptist, on Vicarage Lane, have all been earmarked as go-to areas for officers.
Anyone found obstructing the highway or parking on yellow zig-zags or double yellow lines will be fined in a last-ditch attempt to help make roads around schools safer at peak times around 8.30am and 3pm on weekdays.
Coun Joe Hayward said: “We have constant issues with parents’ parking across the wards - they just don’t care where they park as long as they can get close to the school. We need to increase patrols - the figures for people caught parking illegally must rise.
“It absolutely needs addressing as it’s something that’s gone on for a long time.”
The move comes just weeks after Barnsley Council chose to weld a gate at Carlton cemetery shut - to stop parents with kids at nearby Outwood Academy from parking there to drop off and pick up their children.
“It says a lot about their behaviour when we had to step in to stop them from using a cemetery as a car park,” Coun Tim Cheetham said. “It’s shocking when you think about it - it’s adults behaving like kids.
“We’ve heard that their parking at the cemetery even interrupted a funeral. Clearly something needs to be done to stop them and if it is enforcement officers patrolling and fining them, so be it.”
A petition has been launched by fed-up residents on Vicarage Lane in Royston, who say they want restrictions putting in place to stop parents from parking ‘wherever they please’.
Beatrice Knowles, who started the petition, told the Chronicle: “We’re at the point where enough is enough, I’ve generated almost 300 signatures alone and everyone is in agreement that parents need to take responsibility for their actions and stop.
“I have two grandchildren at St John’s. Parents are in such a rush they mount kerbs and knock wing mirrors off. It’s very dangerous.
“Vicarage Lane is a very narrow street and we would like parking to be for permit holders only.”
Jill Ryan, headteacher at St John the Baptist Primary, added: “It’s very much an ongoing matter and it’s one that’s brought up regularly.
“Near misses are common on Vicarage Lane as parents want to get as close to the school doors as possible. We worry there will be a serious accident and a child will be hit by a vehicle - one mounted the kerb last week and a woman with a pushchair was walking.
“It is a residential area. There is only one way in and one way out so it tends to get clogged up when parents are dropping off and picking up their children, especially given it’s everyone’s only vehicular access.
“We regularly send newsletters out to parents which always ask parents to think about parking elsewhere. We’ve put banners outside the school and done walk-to-school initiatives, but our parents have even been parking further afield and blocking more driveways on Chantry Grove.
“The message to parents is this: if you are unable to walk your children to school, please park responsibly where possible, using car parks in the locality.”
