Timed road closures to go ahead near school

Slough: Cars to be all but banned

A road next to a Slough school which has experienced poor parent parking will be almost car free at the beginning and end of each day.

Barriers are being placed at either end of Moat Drive for an hour each morning and afternoon during a sevenweek long ‘school street’ trial at Wexham Court Primary School in

Church Lane.

The barriers will be manned by marshals, and motorists who use the road to take children to and from school have been asked to either walk, cycle or get to school another way.

Navroop Mehat, headteacher at Wexham Court Primary, has worked with the council’s sustainable transport team ‘Better by’ to take part in the first trial in the Slough borough.

The aim is to encourage children and their parents and carers to make their trip to and from school differently.

The trial began on Monday, November 9 and will run until the school breaks up for the Christmas holidays.

Moat Drive will be closed to school and through traffic at its junctions with Knolton Way and Hillersdon between 8am and 9am and again as school finishes between 3pm and 4pm.

However, the road will not be entirely vehicle free with children, parents and carers urged to

be mindful of residents’ cars, bicycles and scooters using the road to get to and from their proper ties.

Residents of Moat Drive will still be able to come and go through the manned barriers and will be in receipt of permits.

Cllr Rob Anderson

(Lab, Britwell and Northborough) Slough Borough Council’s cabinet member for sustainable transport and the environment, said: “This is a really exciting pilot with the school to address the problem of too many cars in this road at peak hours.

“We have seen similar schemes work in other places and the result will be a safer, healthier and more pleasant environment for everyone around the school.”

The council advises that if parents need to drive their children to school, they should use the designated car park in Church Lane.

‘School streets’ have been successfully set up in Europe and London and are beginning to be trialled in different areas of the UK. This trial is a first in Slough and may be extended to other schools if successful.