Agenda item

Councillor John Hensley attended the meeting and spoke as Ward Councillor.

The lead petitioner attended and raised the following points:

·         That there were parking restrictions on the surrounding roads.

·         This petition was being raised by parents of children at Glebe Primary School, Ickenham (a Specialist Resourced Provision for hearing - impaired children) who need to drop their children off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon, or lunch time if they attend nursery.

·         The school catered for the hearing - impaired, and some of the children travel from further in the Borough to attend this specialist school. The school was growing and the parking issue may impact the future viability of the school.

·         The petitioners were willing to pay for permits and needed to have them so that children could be dropped at the school safely.

Councillor Hensley raised the following points:

·         That there was not an easy answer, as a former Chairman of a Planning Committee, he had agreed to the plans for new schools. The schools were encouraged to have a specific drop off point and Green Travel Plan to do the Glebe Primary School had been non compliant.

·         How many permits would be needed and how would they be distributed?

·         Residents who used the U10 bus, which was the route to Hillingdon Hospital, had found that the bus was not able to pass the school as not all the parents were parking sensibly.

·         That the roads near the school could be better utilised.

·         That in Ickenham there had been several new developments especially around Glebe Primary School.

·         That Officers recommendation 4 to monitor the amount of spare parking capacity should be increased from the suggested three months to six months.

Officers confirmed that to date Glebe Primary School had not produced a Green Travel Plan.

The Cabinet Member, Councillor Keith Burrows, listened to the concerns raised and informed the petitioners he had visited the school during drop off time and was aware of the issues. He acknowledged that parking around schools could be an emotive issue that it was not usual practice to issue parking permits to parents and that Glebe Primary School needed to work with Officers to address the issue.

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Member:

1.    Met with petitioners to listen and discuss the possibility of having parking permits for parents to park near Glebe Primary School.

2.    It was noted that it is not usual practice to introduce school parking permits but there were a small number of locations across the Borough where such scheme had been adopted.

3.    Noted that the present scheme was partly because of local residents concern about parking which was associated with Glebe Primary School. That a permit request would need to be explored as a possible option.

4.    That the monitoring of the amount of spare parking capacity in the roads close to Glebe Primary School would take place over three months possibly in the autumn covering term and holiday period. This could determine the amount of permits needed. Ward Councillors would be informed to keep residents up to date.