South Gloucestershire | Archive | 2005 | July | 29
From the Gazette, first published Friday 29th Jul 2005.
CHILDREN'S lives are being put in danger by parents taking them to and from a Yate school, a rector in the town has claimed.
The Rev David Harrex is extremely worried for the safety of pupils at St Mary's School, Church Road, because too many people are using the busy car park adjacent to the site.
He told the Gazette this week that church services often clash with times when parents need to drop off and collect their youngsters from the primary school leaving them vulnerable to an accident.
Mr Harrex said: "If a child is going to get hurt it will be when members of various groups and organisations are trying to get into the area. "There are clashes with services and that is when the danger arises. A funeral service could be going on when school is out, plus there is the heritage centre and a youth centre.
"The car park gets quite cramped - there really is a lot of people trying to get in.
"Young children are around and parents need eyes in the back of their heads to know where they are all the time."
The car park is used by visitors to the St Mary's Church and Yate Heritage Centre. It also leads to the school's own car park but parents often drop their children off in the first car park.
They are said to be causing an "extreme nuisance" doing three-point turns in their cars after either dropping off or picking up their youngsters. Plans are now underway to deter parents from driving into the site by putting up a gate when special services are being held at the church. Mr Harrex is in discussions with Yate Town Council, which is investigating the matter. The heritage centre, youth group which meets at the school, and the school will also be consulted.
"I am planting a seed to see whether this issue does need addressing," added Mr Harrex. "Placing a gate at the entrance might just be a way of addressing children's safety at certain times."
The town council's environment and planning committee agreed to arrange an on-site meeting with all parties at its meeting on Tuesday night. The council, which owns the land, will also look into the cost of drop-down boulders being placed on the road.
Car park users would have to be given a key to unlock the boulders but Yate town councillor Chris Willmore (Yate North) told the Gazette that all parties who used the car park would have to be consulted before making any decisions.
She added: "The boulders would only work if users were prepared to lock the gate after them otherwise we will all be back to square one." Cllr Sue Walker (Yate South West) suggested that parents should consider leaving their cars at home and walking to school to reduce the amount of traffic.
"Parents could share the responsibility of walking children to school but something needs to be done before a child is killed," she added.
Yate Heritage Centre provides six spaces for visitors at the back of the White Lion public house, off Turnpike Road. A spokeswoman said it had not experienced any problems with traffic although not enough visitors know about the extra parking.
Nobody from the school, which broke up for the summer holidays last Friday, was available for comment as the Gazette went to press.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008