Mum’s idea would stop a parking bunfight

THIS week we’ve heard of a very sensible idea, from a switched-on school-run mum desperate to make the daily task of picking up her children safer and easier, falling at the first hurdle.

Gaynor Mcdermott asked the district council if parents picking up children from Ashbourne Primary could be excused the soon-to-be £1.50 fee to park for an hour in Shaw Croft to allow them to walk with their children back from the school in safety.

Parking near to the school is becoming chaotic and it’s hardly surprising – the school has expanded and Cokayne Avenue often becomes a busy bottleneck.

Of course, as Derbyshire Dales District Council points out, free parking is available in Cokayne Avenue Car Park and, for a limited time, in Cokayne Avenue itself. But try to find a space there during the school run.

It’s right for the council to point out that residents of the Derbyshire Dales – which one would assume is nearly every parent driving to Ashbourne Primary School – would be allowed to park free in the morning anyway using the residents’ concession.

Parking is also free in December, of course, so this month they’re off the hook. But as of January 1, a 20p increase will kick in and, if parents want to take the safest option and park in Shaw

Croft they’ll be paying £1.50 per day. Over an academic term that would soon add up. So it’s no wonder there’s a bit of a bunfight in Cokayne Avenue – and it makes Gaynor’s solution seem simple and effective.

You’d think it would be very easy for the council to offer a concession. Its policy might not allow for a “blanket exclusion for any group” but policies are easy to re-write and are often malleable.

After all, it’s been malleable enough to allow a family of travellers a “blanket exclusion” for over a month now.