Wings issue 152 February/March 2023

Wings
Cars issue is a
real danger
outside village
school
A Wingerworth parish councillor has described the
parking situation outside Deer Park Primary School at
peak times as ‘chaotic,’ adding that he fears for the
safety of children and their parents. John Winter reports
C
OUN Mark Faulkner has conducted a study of traffic
and parking behaviour there, presented his findings
to a meeting of Wingerworth Parish Council and now
hopes Derbyshire County Council highways department
will conduct a site visit to cover traffic management at
both village schools.
His report said that parents were obviously intent on driving their
children to school because of other commitments, notably work,
and includes several worrying observations:
• During his visit several cars manoeuvred onto the footpath when
parking or dropping children off.
• Motorists were seen performing three-point turns amidst the
traffic and pedestrians, occasionally mounting the footpath.
Drivers seemed reluctant to go around the block to travel back
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along New Road after dropping off their children.
• With cars parked on both sides of the road, pedestrian sightline
was diminished when crossing the road. Similarly, motorists
travelling along New Road would have less time to react to
children attempting to cross the road if they emerge onto the road
from between parked cars.
• Park and walk facilities arranged at the Barley Mow and Smithy
Pond pubs were clearly not being used despite their convenience.
The councillor added: “I checked these car parks during the
school drop-off period and whilst New Road was in chaos, the car
parks were scarcely being used. I spoke to one parent who
parked and walked with their child from the Barley Mow. She
remarked that only one other parent used the car park there.”
Opposite the school, New Road has ‘Keep Clear’ and zig-zag
road markings running for about 35 metres. There is no footpath
along this section of road, but there is a grass verge which cars
park on, adjacent to the zig-zag road markings.
Bottleneck
“Immediately after the zig-zag lines, cars can be seen parking on
the roadside on both sides of the road, narrowing the road into a
bottleneck to the south-east. The bottleneck is only wide enough
for one vehicle at a time, and I’ve been told that buses and other
large vehicles can get stuck there occasionally,” said Coun
Faulkner.
One possible option would be to introduce a ‘kiss and drop’
scheme as is the case at Hunloke Park School, where parents
drop their children to staff waiting in the bus stopping area on
Lodge Drive, and then children are accompanied into school using
the bottom gate.
“A similar scheme could be introduced at Deer Park School. The
footpath around the school entrance has been widened to
accommodate the school driveway and a ‘build-in’ into the
footpath area to accommodate a drop-off zone is feasible in my
view. It seems clear that this scheme has been successful at
Hunloke Park and other UK schools,” he said.
Meanwhile, police visited Hunloke Park School and posted the
following comment on their Facebook page:
“Wingerworth & Rural SNT have done our school patrols around
Hunloke School, Wingerworth this afternoon and to be blunt,
some of the parking in places has been horrendous.
“Just to remind some of you that parking opposite solid white
lines is not only illegal, it is also irresponsible. Markings are there
for a reason, to keep everyone safe from passing traffic allowing
parents with children to cross the road safely.
“Several vehicles today have either been moved on, or a ticket
placed on your windscreen. It really isn’t acceptable to say to us
that you were running late and couldn’t find anywhere else to
park.”
Several people posted their support for the police action, and
one added: “I’ve just checked Google maps and the distance
between where I lived and my junior school was 0.6 mile and a
12/13 minute walk. I walked there and back every day come rain or
shine and the snow of 1962.”
Another said: “Please, please can you also do these patrols
around Deer Park School.”
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