THURROCK’S leading councillor on public protection, Cllr Jane Pothecary, says the council’s pilot scheme on parking outside schools worked well.
She was giving her portfolio report to Wednesday (24 February) evening’s meeting of the full council and explained how it “covers a number of statutory services and encompasses three distinct service areas: public protection, parking and community development”.
Cllr Pothecary explained: “I’m sure many of my fellow councillors will attest that parking issues contribute to a large portion of their mail bags.
“Parking around schools has been a particular problem with increasing fears about the safety of our children as we take them to school.
“Taking an innovative approach, we launched a pilot to see if volunteers from the school community could be trained and equipped to provide a presence outside their school.
“The pilot took place in Tilbury at the Pioneer Academy and early indications suggest parking violations have been reduced, with positive feedback from residents and parents.”
She said a formal evaluation is underway and she was “hopeful” the scheme will be rolled out elsewhere later.
On parking, Cllr Pothecary said: “Parking regulation, enforcement and management is an essential tool for ensuring road safety and meeting the needs of our residents.
“We have seen rising numbers of rail users parking in residential areas to use train stations and to address this problem, we have implemented new resident parking permit areas and proactively expanded Grays Beach car park and we are creating a new car park in Purfleet.”
