Road restrictions planned outside two secondaries
DRIVERS could soon be stopped from waiting outside two secondary schools in Cheltenham. Gloucestershire County Council wants to put more double yellow lines outside Bournside School and introduce them close to and outside The High School Leckhampton.
It forms part of a wider plan for parking restrictions along various roads in the Leckhampton and Warden Hill areas of Cheltenham. The council says it aims to improve road safety, visibility, traffic flow and access to amenities for both vehicles and pedestrians.
On its website, it said: “It will also aim to improve safety and encourage active travel around the new high school off Kidnappers Lane and Bournside School, in the Warden Hill Road area.”
Outside Bournside School, the restrictions will apply between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday. In The High School Leckhampton area, they will apply at all times in some places but from 8am to 9am and from 2.30pm to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday, in others.
The council said, in a report on its website: “The measures at Kidnappers Lane and the surrounding roads are proposed in light of the ongoing development of the new High School Leckhampton.
“The changes on these roads are primarily to maintain road safety, amenity, and navigability for vehicles, as well as avoiding congestion once the new school has been completed.
“The measures should help to deter parking at this location where it is unsafe to do so and prevent stopping at school opening and closing times. As the proposed stopping restrictions are timed, the school facilities will be accessible and free from parked vehicles for the majority of the school day.
“Additionally, the proposed timed waiting restrictions will allow parking in these areas outside of the restricted times – avoiding being over-restrictive.”
Peak-time traffic congestion outside Bournside School, which is the county’s biggest and is in Warden Hill Road, has been an issue for some time.
The council said, in its report: “At Warden Hill Road the current parking restrictions in the immediate vicinity of Bournside School are being formalised to make them legally enforceable, whilst new restrictions are also being proposed along Warden Hill Road and at its junctions with Bournside Close, Bournside Drive and Castanum Court.
“The changes on these roads are primarily to improve road safety, amenity and navigability for vehicles, as well as avoiding congestion at peak times. Enforcement of restrictions will help to deter all parking and loading/unloading at this location.
“As the proposed loading restrictions are timed, loading will still be permissible outside of these times, as is the case with the timed waiting restrictions.”
The council’s public consultation for its plans will continue until August 23. Full details of the scheme can be found here: www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/ highways/traffic-regulation-orders-troand-traffic-schemes/
The High School Leckhampton was based at Balcarras School in Charlton Kings for the last academic year but is due to move to its new site, at the junction of Kidnappers Lane and Farm Lane in Leckhampton, on September 1.
School facilities will be accessible and free from parked vehicles for the majority of the school day Council report