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We have
to drive our kids to school
• It is a great shame that Camden Council is
not prepared to listen to the 1,500 of its constituents who
signed the STAG petition opposing the withdrawal of school parking
permits.
Contrary to Councillor John Thane’s contentions (letters
March 9), the council steam-rolled the policy through without
proper reference to the views of residents and parents.
The council’s own consultation report stated that the permits
should not be withdrawn until a long list of alternatives had
been put in place. Only one out of 15 have been implemented.
This policy simply won’t work because many parents have
no realistic options but to drive. Many of the people who signed
STAG’s petition do not themselves need a permit but signed
the petition because they recognise the policy will make congestion
and parking problems worse not better.
Blaming schools’ communication with parents completely
misses the point: many parents simply do not have suitable schools
nearer home. The schools are concentrated in a small area where
house prices are highly inflated, so few can afford to live
within walking distance.
Most parents would love to walk or take public transport and
avoid the hellish school run if they could. But we encounter
the most basic problems that should have been resolved well
before withdrawing permits. We can’t get onto overcrowded
buses, public transport coverage is inadequate and Tubes and
buses are completely inaccessible for children in buggies.
The policy will result in increased congestion and parking contraventions
as parents are forced to ‘drop and run’ at the school
gates or circle as a second adult picks up children.
Hampstead Parochial School found this early this term when its
permits were delayed for three weeks. There was chaos as parents
had to drive right up to the school gates afraid of getting
parking tickets.
Do the supporters of this policy realise that it only applies
to children under 10? Ironically it has no impact on older children
who can be dropped off and picked up without a permits because
they can make their way in and out alone. The policy affects
nursery age children, pregnant mothers and sick siblings, many
of whom will be forced on long and difficult journeys to and
from school.
STAG and schools have been working hard on many initiatives
to address the underlying inadequacies in the public and private
transport alternatives but we cannot single-handedly solve the
major transport infrastructure problems that bedevil the north
of the borough.
If Cllr Thane was really interested in encouraging parents to
“think about healthier alternatives” he would be working
to make more of these available. The council’s travel plans
are simply window dressing and do nothing to address the underlying
problem.
V Fobel
Schools Travel Action Group (STAG)
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