Agenda item

The access arrangements to St Joseph’s School changed in October 2018.  Previously part of the school community accessed the school via St Margaret’s Drive, a private road across Abelea Green, and the car park at St Joseph’s Church.  This access route was closed to the school community in October 2018, which means the only approach routes to St Joseph’s School are now via Rosebank and Whitehorse Drive.  The reasons for this change are outside the scope of this report.

Since this change, road safety concerns have been raised in both Rosebank and Whitehorse Drive.  In response officers have met the head teachers of both St Joseph’s and Rosebery Schools, and arranged site audits in accordance with the County Council’s “Road Safety Outside Schools” policy.  This report outlines observations, analysis and recommendations for minor highway improvements arising from these meetings and audits.

The school run in Rosebank and Whitehorse Drive is quite typical for Surrey schools, and works significantly better than for a fair number of other schools.  The only observed safety concerns were to do with the operation of the pick up and drop off system in the school’s car park, which is accessible from Rosebank.

That the Local Committee [Epsom & Ewell] agreed:

(i)        To allocate funding to begin a feasibility study for St Joseph’s School this Financial Year 2019-20 at a maximum initial cost of £5,000, to include consideration of measures in both Rosebank and Whitehorse Drive, subject to the identification of suitable funding from the deferment of a project already scheduled for this year.

(ii)        [on a vote 8 votes FOR to 1 AGAINST] To ask the parking engineer to draw up proposals for the relaxation of parking for a limited time period, at the start and end of the school day, on parts of the Abelea Green estate, to allow an additional park and stride location, for inclusion in the parking review to be considered at the September 2019 meeting of the Committee.

Reasons:  To consider engineering improvements in Rosebank and Whitehorse Drive that may be beneficial and the option for an additional park and stride location.

Declarations of Interest: Cllr Bernie Muir declared a prejudicial interest as a resident of Abelea Green and left the meeting for this item.

Officers attending: Peter Shimadry, Senior Traffic Engineer

Petitions, Public Questions/Statements: None

Member discussion –key points

A member read out an e-mail sent that day to Committee members by a parent outlining the details of a recent incident in Rosebank where a disabled child cycling on the pavement had been knocked into the road by another child on a bike trying to pass and was nearly hit by a reversing vehicle.  Vehicles blocking the road, parking on the pavements and deliveries to the nursery mean that children often have to walk in the road to get to the school.  The parent considered that Rosebank is unsafe for the number of children and vehicles using it to access the school.

The Senior Traffic Engineer commented that there are many schools around Surrey which experience similar congestion issues at school pick up and drop off times, but that a feasibility study would be the best way to determine what improvements may be possible.

Whilst members were supportive of a feasibility study, they noted that all available funding for this year had already been allocated and further discussions would be needed to decide what, if anything could be postponed.  The Committee wished to limit the cost of the feasibility study to £5,000 without the agreement of the Committee to any further costs.

It was noted that the Abelea Green area could provide an additional park and stride location, which is only around 12 minutes’ walk from the School.  The School has also indicated that this could be a suitable location for the operation of a walking bus, as it is the only location which does not require a busy road to be crossed to access the School.  It was proposed that some relaxation of the parking in this location, for a limited time at school pick up and drop off times, should be considered and advertised as part of the parking review coming to the Committee in September.  The divisional member indicated that she had already carried out a full consultation of the residents of Abelea Green and they were unanimously opposed to any relaxation of parking restrictions in the area.  She had proposed to the Borough Council, on several occasions, that parents could be granted 40 minutes free parking in the Ashley Centre car park, but his had been refused.  She felt that parents could make better use of car sharing opportunities and the School could extend the period of time during which children can be dropped off.  She also asked the Area Highway Manager to look at the potential for a road closure at School pick up and drop off times as is operated in some parts of London.

Some members were in favour of the option of removing some of the resident parking spaces mentioned in the report to allow better access, but were unsure whether this could be done in isolation to the feasibility study.

It was noted that the car hire company based in Rosebank had been spoken to be the Police about dangerous and obstructive parking and regular parking enforcement is carried out by the Borough Council.  The Divisional member indicated that she had had difficulty accessing the most recent travel plan.  However it was acknowledged that the travel plan can only encourage changes in behaviour and is not enforceable.

Resolved:

(i)        To allocate funding to begin a feasibility study for St Joseph’s School this Financial Year 2019-20 at a maximum initial cost of £5,000, to include consideration of measures in both Rosebank and Whitehorse Drive, subject to the identification of suitable funding from the deferment of a project already scheduled for this year.

On a motion proposed by Cllr Kington and seconded by Cllr Dallen and

(ii)        [on a vote 8 votes FOR to 1 AGAINST] To ask the parking engineer to draw up proposals for the relaxation of parking for a limited time period, at the start and end of the school day, on parts of the Abelea Green estate, to allow an additional park and stride location, for inclusion in the parking review to be considered at the September 2019 meeting of the Committee.

Reasons:  To consider engineering improvements in Rosebank and Whitehorse Drive that may be beneficial and the option for an additional park and stride location.