Danger fears over school drop-offs
Lack of parking is‘accident waiting to happen’
The lack of a safe place to drop off kids outside two Perthshire primary schools is an“accident waiting to happen” according to concerned residents.
The community in Blairgowrie has renewed calls for Blairgowrie Community Campus to get a suitable drop-off zone or care park.
This is because parents of pupils at both Newhill Primary School and St Stephen’s RC Primary School, which are both housed in the community campus, are parking in the surrounding streets because of the lack of a car park.
Brian Smith, vice chair of Blairgowrie and Rattray Community Council, lives near the campus and sai: “It is chaotic, there is something like 100 cars trying to get in somewhere where they can’t.
“This is then mixed in with buses, taxis and contractors, so it is an accident waiting to happen because there is no safe drop off and pick up point at the campus for parents and kids.
“We have been fighting for five years for a car park or safe drop off point and nothing is happening.
“Perth and Kinross Council put forward some proposals - one was to paint yellow lines to stop parents getting anywhere near the school.
“Another was a nearby road should have a lay-by in it, which a local developer would put some money towards. My comments there it will immediately fill up with people who will move into the nearby housing development.”
Currently, there is a major housing development taking place next to Blairgowrie Community Campus, which Mr Smith says will only exacerbate the problem.
He continued: “I live close by in a small avenue, but people use that as a car park so we always have to put up with poor parking and parking in front of driveways.
“You have to remember there are two schools there, the local primary school Newhill and St Stephen’s, which is the Catholic school for the whole area, so you have pupils from all over Blairgowrie and the surrounding area travelling there.
“There is also about five or six taxis and three to four buses coming it and turning causing more chaos.
“We have always said the council must provide a safe drop off and pick up area, that is all we can say.
“Where it should be and what it should be is up to the council, but there are more than 100 vehicles coming to the school every day, so we have to think in terms of facilities for that number of cars.”
Only a few weeks ago, the local authority placed parking attendants outside the community campus to alleviate the problems, but Mr Smith said this only upset parents.
A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council said: “Extra patrols have recently been carried out on the roads immediately around Blairgowrie Community Campus following Blairgowrie Community Campus concerns raised by the school and local community about road and pedestrian safety due to indiscriminate parking.
“We share parents’ and carers’ wish to ensure their children are dropped off and picked up safely from school and would ask motorists to park responsibly and be aware of others requiring safe access to the campus.”