Six- month school parking ban move
A SIX- MONTH parking ban around four Renfrewshire schools will be implemented next year after councillors unanimously backed plans to clamp down on irresponsible driving.
From January until June, parking will be forbidden at the start and end of the school day in the immediate areas around St Catherine’s, Lochfield and St Charles’ primaries in Paisley and Barsail Primary in Erskine.
Teachers will be expected to follow the rules alongside parents dropping off and picking up children, but the council has supplied each school with a number of emergency passes which can be given to staff who need to park close by.
The exclusion zones were approved by councillors on the infrastructure, land and environment board on Wednesday.
As the move was agreed, board convener Cathy McEwan said: “I believe this is a step in the right direction.
“We know how important this is because safety is paramount.”
Paisley Southwest councillor Eddie Devine – whose ward covers two of the schools involved – said he supported the move but was concerned could give rise to arguments between staff over emergency passes.
Gerard Hannah, it infrastructure and transportation manager, assured him discussions had taken place over how many passes each school would require.
“We’ve met with headteachers and kept up the dialogue with them throughout this process,” said Mr Hannah.
“In terms of the individual schools, they each have their own requirements and we’ve asked the headteacher to take responsibility for those, so the numbers that have been fed back to us from the school are the numbers we are going to proceed with.”
The restriction will be in place from 8.30am to 9.15am at all schools as well as between 2.30pm and 3.15pm at the three Paisley primaries and 2.45pm to 3.30pm at Barsail.
Any driver who enters or exits the zones during these times could be issued with a fixed penalty notice.
The pilot scheme will enable officers to assess its effects and, if it is deemed successful in deterring careless parking and congestion, it could be rolled out to other schools.
Roads staff will monitor things such as the number of cars entering zones, issues raised by schools, penalties handed out, near misses and accidents, and any increase in walking and cycling.