Telford police are to launch a major crackdown on illegal parking and traffic congestion outside schools in the borough. Operation SOS - Safer Outside Schools - will see police officers and community support officers patrol the streets outside schools in Telford and Wrekin. The scheme is set to be rolled out in time for the start of the new school term in September.
Parking is a thorny issue at several schools in the borough and the Telford Journal has regularly been contacted by peope complaining about the situation - on both sides of the fence.
While residents say indiscriminate parking is causing them problems, many car-driving parents who take their children to school say schools have been designed without parking facilities and in other instances local road schemes have made confrontations greater by restricting the areas available.
While schools are following the Government -led - and borough council-backed Safer Routes to School strategy, which puts the emphasis on walking and cycling - many parents counter that the distances involved, the risks pertained and their work commitments make this impossible.
Prevalent
The issue of parking has been raised by various residents in at PACT (Partners and Communities Together) meetings.
They said illegal parking was especially prevalent at the beginning and end of the school day.
Operation SOS is being launched following a successful pilot scheme in June when two wards were patrolled to carry out parking enforcement.
Police say it proved popular with residents and that it improved the safety of parents and children travelling to and from schools.
Telford police’s traffic management officer, Constable Rod Lake, said: “The pilot scheme of Operation SOS was an undoubted success.
“We have now decided to launch the scheme right across the borough.
“Operation SOS will give motorists the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.”
Constable Lake urged motorists to give due consideration to pedestrians when parking up outside schools.
“This will not only help to ensure the safety of pedestrians - and especially school children - but also reduce their chances of being given a fixed penalty notice quite significantly.”
He added that police officers could still issue fixed penalty notices or report offenders for summons if necessary.
Councillor Steve Bentley, cabinet member for the environment at Telford & Wrekin Council, which is supporting the scheme, said: “The SOS scheme will target the minority of drivers who park inconsiderately or illegally outside schools.
“Working with the schools, the police and the local community we plan to be able to support parents and children to get to school safely.”
Councillor Stephen Burrell, cabinet member for children and young people, added a cross council working group had been set up to improve parking at schools.
A number of Telford schools have major parking problems which have become flashpoints.
They include North Road in Wellington, where there are two primaries - Wrekin View and St Patrick’s - virtually opposite each other, yet most on-street parking was deliberately removed by a road narrowing scheme.
Apley Wood Primary in Leegomery has also seen clashes between parents wanting to park and residents claiming driveways are blocked.
Telford & Wrekin has already installed extra road markings but local people fear the situation may deteriorate when major redevelopment starts shortly at the district centre across the road - to whose car park parents are directed.
