Car parking issue sorted after 18 months of discussions

A COUNCIL and a historic school in Yorkshire have reached a compromise on parking problems after 18 months of talks.

King Edward VII School’s swimming pool is operated by a trust on lease from Sheffield Council, but there have been problems with parking on the site in Broomhall, Sheffield.

Visitors to the pool have always had access to King Edward VII’s car park, which has been vital to the leisure facility’s business due to parking restrictions on surrounding roads.

But the school is now installing gates to improve safeguarding after the open access of the school site was raised during a recent inspection.

The gates would have stopped pool visitors and the council has been in discussion for 18 months to agree a solution.

In a report, officers say: “The school is proposing an access control system on the gates and would provide the pool with access that could be issued to families booked onto swimming lessons.

“The school has now been out to tender for the works and is looking to appoint a contractor at a price of £160,980.

“Approval is sought to make a contribution of £102.500 towards the cost of the work in recognition of the fact that limiting access to the site was an issue that the authority had previously tried to address and a condition of any funding would secure continued public access to the swimming pool.”

King Edward VII School was formed in 1905 by the merger of two other schools, Wesley College and Sheffield Royal Grammar School. But the school can trace its history back to a Royal charter granted in 1604, the result of a legacy from Thomas Smith the previous year.