Fuming headteacher hits back at Lib Dem leader in parking row (From Bucks Free Press)

This school is a nightmare at pick up time . Currently it blocks up Saffron Platts every evening when parents are waiting for children. Will be glad when they move.
Bassetsbury Lane however will now have the problems.

He told the BFP: "I can't understand how somebody with his position can make comments like that."

Doh because he has been elected by the local residents who are going to be affected by the increased traffic/parking problems that your school brings!

townraider wrote:
This school is a nightmare at pick up time . Currently it blocks up Saffron Platts every evening when parents are waiting for children. Will be glad when they move. Bassetsbury Lane however will now have the problems.

Umm.. The School doesn't block the road, parents' cars do. Parents who are too lazy to park just a couple of minutes walk away where is won't cause a problem. It is unfair and inaccurate to blame the headmaster, staff or pupils at the school.

The road should be properly marked with appropriate parking restrictions which should then be enforced. That's a matter for the Council, so perhaps Mr Snaith should be shouting at himself?

School pick up/ drop off parking in general is often difficult and dangerous for all concerned! Try driving past Lacey Green school an HOUR either side of school start or finish - parents parked solidly around a blind bend, and a solid line of cars right the way up the road. Glad I don't have to get the 300 bus through there at the wrong time of day.

This is a classic problem at most schools.
VERY inconsiderate parking/vehicle abandonment are common place. In general the heads don't want to know as they feel its not their problem to resolve. I have spent many hours in the freezing cold trying to keep children safe outside schools and have received no end of verbal abuse from parents who want to park as close possible with total disregard from highway signage.

What the police should do is stand around the corner from these hot spots as 90% of those who cause the major problems don't even bother to strap their child in a car seat.

If this report is to be believed who pays for any installation work for parking restrictions / prohibitions and continuous enforcement of them thereafter.
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This aspect should have been dealt with well before the sale of Bassetbury and planning permission was granted.
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This is the sort of issue that cause ordinary folk to have a rather low opinion of the competence of councillors/ politicians and their advisers. Could the authorities not see this sort of potential problem looming a long time ago ?
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Of course it could all be untrue and just be the mere makings of another urban myth (or hit) in Wycombe

rem708 wrote:
This is a classic problem at most schools.
VERY inconsiderate parking/vehicle abandonment are common place. In general the heads don't want to know as they feel its not their problem to resolve. I have spent many hours in the freezing cold trying to keep children safe outside schools and have received no end of verbal abuse from parents who want to park as close possible with total disregard from highway signage.

What the police should do is stand around the corner from these hot spots as 90% of those who cause the major problems don't even bother to strap their child in a car seat.

"In general the heads don't want to know as they feel its not their problem to resolve."
There isnt enough police resource to manage the problems caused by schools.
This head was been given the opportunity to become a good neighbour--- lets see if he does?
Lets see how he intends to manage the parking issues his school creates.

townraider wrote:

rem708 wrote: This is a classic problem at most schools. VERY inconsiderate parking/vehicle abandonment are common place. In general the heads don't want to know as they feel its not their problem to resolve. I have spent many hours in the freezing cold trying to keep children safe outside schools and have received no end of verbal abuse from parents who want to park as close possible with total disregard from highway signage. What the police should do is stand around the corner from these hot spots as 90% of those who cause the major problems don't even bother to strap their child in a car seat.

"In general the heads don't want to know as they feel its not their problem to resolve." There isnt enough police resource to manage the problems caused by schools. This head was been given the opportunity to become a good neighbour--- lets see if he does? Lets see how he intends to manage the parking issues his school creates.

So how do you think the head teacher should manage the parking issues? He has no authority over parents or where cars park and the parents, along with everyone else (except you, perhaps) know that.
Personally I'd rather a head teacher get on with running his school and let the council deal with traffic and parking enforcement as it is their job, not the head teacher's.

Bill Taxpayer wrote:

townraider wrote:

rem708 wrote: This is a classic problem at most schools. VERY inconsiderate parking/vehicle abandonment are common place. In general the heads don't want to know as they feel its not their problem to resolve. I have spent many hours in the freezing cold trying to keep children safe outside schools and have received no end of verbal abuse from parents who want to park as close possible with total disregard from highway signage. What the police should do is stand around the corner from these hot spots as 90% of those who cause the major problems don't even bother to strap their child in a car seat.

"In general the heads don't want to know as they feel its not their problem to resolve." There isnt enough police resource to manage the problems caused by schools. This head was been given the opportunity to become a good neighbour--- lets see if he does? Lets see how he intends to manage the parking issues his school creates.

So how do you think the head teacher should manage the parking issues? He has no authority over parents or where cars park and the parents, along with everyone else (except you, perhaps) know that.
Personally I'd rather a head teacher get on with running his school and let the council deal with traffic and parking enforcement as it is their job, not the head teacher's.

How about this idea....
Why should we as taxpayers have to pay for enforcing school related issues !!

As schools cause the problems they should contribute to the costs of enforcement !!

Or alternatively handle pick up and drop of on the school land !!

To be fair to the school they give out detailed parking guidelines to new parents and regularly update parents in newsletters. As had been reported here the school has no control but has done what it can in being a good neighbour. The school has also had representatives of the council attend assemblies and talking to the children so the channel for conversations have always been open. The school taking over the rapidly decaying Bassetsbury Manor is a good thing as the council were failing at keeping it in good repair or use. With a car park on the rye it is also a good opportunity for parents and pupils to walk for 5 mins without a major road to cross when going to school. If the council (Snaith etc) wanted to be constructive they could work with the school (and other ones as this isn't a Crown House exclusive opportunity) to create a parking voucher scheme to enable free parking for 20 mins at drop off and collect times in safe designated areas. It could be for those that car share etc...

Inconsiderate drivers ARE the parking problem.

School parking is a problem almost everywhere. But one has to wonder why some of thoses drivers dropping childern to school just have no concern for themselves or their childrens safety.
Many poeople are responsible for the school parking congestion in and around the area. Planner, Councillors, Police, Parking enforcement, Parents to name few.
With a little planning, thought, education and respect much could be improved.

Parents have a car park very close at Easton Street, they should park there.
Easton Terrace, Aveling Road are regularly blocked by the parents. This is not setting a good example to children. Clearly any local councillor will do what they can to prevent a re-occurence of this at a new location.

faircuppa wrote:
Parents have a car park very close at Easton Street, they should park there. Easton Terrace, Aveling Road are regularly blocked by the parents. This is not setting a good example to children. Clearly any local councillor will do what they can to prevent a re-occurence of this at a new location.

I can't believe you are suggesting that parents taking their children to a private school should have to pay to park. Don't you know they are more important than us?

townraider wrote:

Bill Taxpayer wrote:

townraider wrote:

rem708 wrote: This is a classic problem at most schools. VERY inconsiderate parking/vehicle abandonment are common place. In general the heads don't want to know as they feel its not their problem to resolve. I have spent many hours in the freezing cold trying to keep children safe outside schools and have received no end of verbal abuse from parents who want to park as close possible with total disregard from highway signage. What the police should do is stand around the corner from these hot spots as 90% of those who cause the major problems don't even bother to strap their child in a car seat.

"In general the heads don't want to know as they feel its not their problem to resolve." There isnt enough police resource to manage the problems caused by schools. This head was been given the opportunity to become a good neighbour--- lets see if he does? Lets see how he intends to manage the parking issues his school creates.

So how do you think the head teacher should manage the parking issues? He has no authority over parents or where cars park and the parents, along with everyone else (except you, perhaps) know that. Personally I'd rather a head teacher get on with running his school and let the council deal with traffic and parking enforcement as it is their job, not the head teacher's.

How about this idea.... Why should we as taxpayers have to pay for enforcing school related issues !! As schools cause the problems they should contribute to the costs of enforcement !! Or alternatively handle pick up and drop of on the school land !!

Because it is not a school related issue - it is a road/traffic related issue and that is the responsibility of the council.

would be best all round to **** the school down. the kids are a pain when thay come out

faircuppa wrote:
Parents have a car park very close at Easton Street, they should park there.
Easton Terrace, Aveling Road are regularly blocked by the parents. This is not setting a good example to children. Clearly any local councillor will do what they can to prevent a re-occurence of this at a new location.

Councillors are here to create problems - not to solve them. They don't appear to have time for that sort of nonsense (apparently).
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Next you'll be asking for a say in things and all that democratic consultative stuff and where will that get us all ?
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To quote from Crown House's own sequential test document, submitted for the planning application, '...the current site has some issues for both staff and children. In particular there is congestion in the surrounding road network during drop off and pick up times.'

If Crown House has owned Bassetsbury Manor since 2009 they must be responsible for the decline in it's condition since then or was the sale not completed until they had got planning permission?

Some incredibly naive people using this site.

For costs of bringing the Manor buildings into use as a school of more than quadrupled the original estimates. Those costs are now unaffordable.

There are talks underway to sell the Manor to the owners of the Totteridge Road mosque for use as a place of worship. This change of use has already been given the nod by Planning.

Snaith really is up to do date isn't he!

Stalemate wrote:
Some incredibly naive people using this site.

For costs of bringing the Manor buildings into use as a school of more than quadrupled the original estimates. Those costs are now unaffordable.

There are talks underway to sell the Manor to the owners of the Totteridge Road mosque for use as a place of worship. This change of use has already been given the nod by Planning.

Snaith really is up to do date isn't he!

Well , you're more up to date than the rest of us, Stalemate.
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The Crown School only got planning approval to extend the premises by 500 sq m on 31stAug 2012.
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The school and the Council must have changed their minds.
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Things sure move fast round here , since Dave Cameron complained about local planning regulations and the costs and delays they cause.

Yep, it's fast moving and also pretty sly of Planning to give the nod like that on another change of use. Still, I suppose they thought that as one had been approved already, same difference.

I just thought, maybe Snaith is batting for other team now after a summer holiday in Mecca?

He has always been quite fond of a game of Bingo. It's not illegal you know. At least only in certain places.

My children go to Crown House and I agree that parking at the rear of the school on pick up is an issue. I along with the majority of the parents use the car park adjacent to the school when we can. It is a very busy one and there are often no free spaces. This leaves parents with little other options than to use the roads to the rear of the school. It may be worth noting that the roads to the rear are not through roads but residential roads. The school has been there since the 1920's so residents moved there knowing there was a school. Common sense would suggest that at times the roads may be busy at drop off and pick up. Are these the same kind of people who'd buy a house next to a pub then complain about the noise?
The school does everything it can to help reduce the congestion, staggering upper and lower school finishing times being one of them. How many of the people whinging on this thread also pick up their children from school by car?

I'm looking forward to Crown House's move to Bassetsbury Manor and as a parent will be as considerate as is practical when dropping off and collecting my children.

I'm sure the parents will not be so impresssed with the move when they realise that they will either have to walk across the grass or dodge the two way traffic and large roadside puddles on the unlit, narrow car park access road. There is no footpath from the car park to the school entrance. The road will be further restricted by the cars parked (legally)opposite the school entrance.

My youngest child walks to our local school. My elder child walked or caught the bus.