Issue - meetings

The full wording of the petition along with officer response are provided within the supplementary agenda.

The Local Committee agreed:

i)    To allow the county councils Safer Travel Team to investigate concerns raised by the petition using the Road Safety Outside Schools Policy

The Local Committee noted:

ii)  The outcome of the safety assessment will be reported to the school and local County Councillor containing the results of the road safety education assessment and a description of any potential highway improvements and estimated costs.

iii) That recommendations could include measures within the school grounds which the school will be responsible for implementing.

Reason for decision:

The above decision was made in order to enable officers to conduct a Road Safety Outside Schools Assessment to look at measures that could be taken to improve the road safety for the children.

Declarations of Interest: None

Officers Attending: Zena Curry, Area Highways Manager, SCC

Petitions, Public Questions and Statements: The petition and officer response was published within the supplementary agenda.

The lead petitioners Mr Jason Walters and Mrs Lynn Sadd attended the meeting and addressed the committee with their concerns. Mr Walters explained how the school was very much involved in the community and were also trying to promote alternative methods of travel to school. The school currently had a silver award for their school travel plan, took part in the annual golden boot challenge and continually encouraged parents to ‘park and walk’. Despite all efforts parents were choosing what was easy over what was safest.

Key points from the discussion:

·         The divisional member, although unable to attend the meeting, had offered her support and had hoped to attend the site visit with the Safer Travel Team to the school in the coming days.

·         Members suggested that if parents were unwilling to change their behaviours then it could be an issue to take up with the Reigate & Banstead Community Safety Team or Joint Enforcement Team (JET) to take action.

·         There was a lot of support from members and they suggested better communication may be required with parents to raise awareness of the free parking and initiatives that were available to them when completing the school drop offs and pickups.

Resolution:

The Local Committee agreed:

i)    To allow the county councils Safer Travel Team to investigate concerns raised by the petition using the Road Safety Outside Schools Policy

The Local Committee noted:

ii)   The outcome of the safety assessment will be reported to the school and local County Councillor containing the results of the road safety education assessment and a description of any potential highway improvements and estimated costs.

iii)  That recommendations could include measures within the school grounds which the school will be responsible for implementing.

Reason for decision:

The above decision was made in order to enable officers to conduct a Road Safety Outside Schools Assessment to look at measures that could be taken to improve the road safety for the children.