Issue - meetings
School parking arrangements
Meeting: 07/02/2013 - Highways Committee (Item 7)
7 School parking compliance PDF 187 KB
This report provides the Committee with an interim update of the results of parking compliance surveys at schools, an examination of potential equalities issues, and recommendations for future prioritisation.
Decision:
(i) Noted the progress made towards the completion of a more methodical approach to improving parking behaviour in the vicinity of schools during the school run’, through the potential for reprioritising of parking enforcement and reprioritising school travel plan development and support;
(ii) Instructed the Head of Safer Streets together with the Head of Transportation to complete the parking compliance survey for all schools and to bring forward proposals for focussing enforcement and modality shift resources in respect of schools with greatest levels of parking non-compliance.
Minutes:
The Committee considered a report which provided an update on the results of parking compliance surveys at schools, an examination of potential equalities issues and made recommendations for future prioritisation. Paul Chandler, Head of Transportation, emphasised that a key feature of the borough’s transport strategy was the safety of school children in the vicinity of schools. With that in view, a compliance survey of vehicles parked in the vicinity of each school including those which had been illegally parked was undertaken in October and November 2012. He drew members’ attention to the appendix attached to the report that set out the results of the survey together with the status of each school’s travel plan.
The Chair noted that the meetings arranged with Al Sadiq and Al Zahra schools had produced positive outcomes and that a satisfactory compromise had been reached on parking issues following safer procedures devised by officers to improve awareness. In reference to the survey results, Councillor Jones enquired as to measures that were being taken to address schools where lower compliance rates were recorded. Councillor Long observed that Maple Walk School had not been included on the list and wondered whether the school had been made aware of the compliance.
The Head of Transportation in outlining some of the measures to address low compliance rates of some schools drew members’ attention to performance targets for those schools, school travel plan and the availability of funds from Transport for London (TfL). Members heard that whilst about 90% of Brent schools had a travel plan not all schools were reviewing their plans annually and in 2012, out of 43 schools that submitted a travel plan 5 received gold accreditation, 2 silver, and 38 Bronze. The Head of Transportation continued that no formal linkage had been established between the Council’s support for school travel planning and associated parking compliance standards. In view of that officers would explore whether an explicit link could be established, review the effectiveness of the plans given that some schools with very high levels of parking non-compliance had been awarded gold status.
RESOLVED:-
(i) that the progress made towards the completion of a more methodical approach to improving parking behaviour in the vicinity of schools during the ‘school run’, through the potential for reprioritising of parking enforcement and reprioritising school travel plan development and support be noted;
(ii) that the Head of Safer Streets together with the Head of Transportation be instructed to complete the parking compliance survey for all schools and to focus enforcement and modality shift resources in respect of schools with greatest levels of parking non-compliance.