Parents and residents of Carlton Colville primary school hold a public meeting to discuss the congestion problems around the school. Picture: Nick Butcher

Meeting over Carlton Colville traffic concerns

By Kathryn Bradley Friday, March 8, 2013
2:40 PM

More than 150 people crowded in to the hall at Carlton Colville Primary School in a bid to find a solution to the traffic problems caused by parents dropping off and picking up their children.

Congestion complaints

Two weeks ago, The Journal reported that an ambulance taking 76-year-old Frank Nicholls (pictured) to hospital had to reverse in to the school car park and go back down Gisleham Road because its path was blocked by cars – to the frustration of its driver.

Car drivers failed to move out of the way, even though the ambulance had its blue lights and siren on.

Mr Nicholls, who lives in Gisleham Road, had a potentially life-threatening blood clot on his lung. He spent four days in hospital being treated and is now recovering at home.

Some of the other problems listed by parents and residents at Monday’s meeting included:

■ A woman, who lives opposite the school, said she had to get out of bed to move her car while still in her pyjamas one morning after the driver of a school bus knocked on her door because he could not get through;

■ A horse rider said she once had to ride through the school car park to get by because Gisleham Road was completely blocked with parked cars when the school held a sports day;

■ A disabled mum complained that able-bodied parents were parking in the disabled drivers’ bays. She said that when she did manage to get a bay, parents would park behind her and block her in;

■ A parent said he had seen teachers being verbally abused and other parents physically fighting and pushing one another in frustration at the congestion;

■ Residents said a lorry carrying 300 pigs could not get down Fairhead Loke to the farm because cars were parked in the way and that the driver had to wait until the vehicles had been moved. They added that the farmer now tried to avoid arranging deliveries at school opening and closing times because the congestion was so bad.

There was standing room only at the heated public meeting, which was chaired by county councillor Kathy Gosling and attended by Suffolk’s cabinet member for education and young people, Graham Newman.

Parents, local residents and teachers spoke for more than an hour about the congestion around the school in Gisleham Road which, as the Journal reported last month, delayed an ambulance taking a sick man to hospital.

Carol Child, the school’s head teacher, said her staff had been out directing traffic because they were so concerned for the safety of children.

She said teachers had been abused by some parents and even spoken to by a police officer as a result of their good intentions.

Mrs Child told the meeting she knew of children who had nearly been knocked down, and she had even seen staff get in front of cars, almost on their windscreens, to prevent pupils being hit.

“It is down to everybody to behave responsibly and sensibly,” she said. “The abuse that my staff have had to put up with is completely and utterly unacceptable.”

Householders said parents began parking along the road at 1.40pm as people arrived to pick up children at 3pm.

They said it was difficult to get in and out of their homes because of the sheer volume of traffic, and they frequently came close to being involved in an accident.

Parents and residents called for a car park to be built on the school playing field to stop people blocking Gisleham Road.

There were also calls for a road to be built connecting Gisleham Road and Rushmere Road, and for a one-way system to be introduced.

An offer by Gary Lambert, owner of Gary Lambert Construction Ltd, to build the car park for 70 vehicles at cost price was greeted with a round of applause.

But Mrs Gosling said she was concerned the creation of more parking spaces would simply encourage more people to drive and she would prefer it if parents did not use their cars at all.

She said work had already been done by the council to help resolve the problem, including painting double yellow lines, removing a roundabout and installing 20’s Plenty speed signs to improve safety.

However, parents argued that they did not feel safe walking their children to school because the footpaths were not wide enough for two people and there was too much traffic to allow children to cycle.

Many told the meeting they felt stressed and worried about taking their children to and from school and arrived early to find a space.

One mum said she fed her baby in the car outside school for an hour because she had to arrive so early to park.

She added: “You don’t move children through to a school where there is nowhere to park. It is wrong and is stressing everybody out. It is not fair anymore and something needs to be done.”

After the meeting, Mr Newman said he hoped to form a steering group to ensourage parents, residents and the school to work together.

He said similar congestion problems had been solved at schools elsewhere in Suffolk but pointed out that none of the county’s 300-plus school had such a large car park for parents.

11 comments

its is mental down there when school starts and finishes but not just the parents, i have been down there when school shut and residents have parked in such a way to block the road that a lorry could not get trough.

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Clark

Sunday, March 10, 2013
its is mental down there when school starts and finishes but not just the parents, i have been down there when school shut and residents have parked in such a way to block the road that a lorry could not get trough.

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Clark

Sunday, March 10, 2013
I thought this was a very poor write-up of the meeting. Your reporter did not mention that many of the parents were asking for wider footpaths and a new cycle path to our school, or the work that Sustrans and the school are doing to encourage the children to get to school by bike. Building a car park is just going to move the bottleneck further down the road and will not solve the problem.

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RMF

Saturday, March 9, 2013
The meetings was shambolic with the Chair hogging the microphone and the man from the council was as helpful as a chocolate teapot.They were warned about this when they first planned to close the middle school.Where has the "local" county councillor been for the past 4 years - must be an election coming up! LOL

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Dogberry

Saturday, March 9, 2013
The meetings was shambolic with the Chair hogging the microphone and the man from the council was as helpful as a chocolate teapot.They were warned about this when they first planned to close the middle school.Where has the "local" county councillor been for the past 4 years - must be an election coming up! LOL

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Dogberry

Saturday, March 9, 2013
This was an accident waiting to happen. My two children went to Gisleham middle School in the 1990s at the traffic congestion then was equally as bad. Ages of children then were 9-13 and the parents still arrived waiting for prime parking positions - never mind the buses to Kessingland etc. Putting the Primary School on such a site with children from 4-9 meant the problem was to be greatly increased. The County Council have an obligation to address a potential catastrophe.

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Kristiangarrett

Friday, March 8, 2013
Tea&Biscuits makes a good point! I don't know this school well - it looks very nice on its website. Is the catchment area enormous? Just how far are people driving to deliver their children?

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point du jour

Friday, March 8, 2013
Tea&Biscuits makes a good point! I don't know this school well - it looks very nice on its website. Is the catchment area enormous? Just how far are people driving to deliver their children?

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point du jour

Friday, March 8, 2013
I'm not sure you can blame a council for the lazy, idle, ignorant people who park badly outside schools.

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Tea&Biscuits

Friday, March 8, 2013
Suffolk county council are totally to blame. They shut the small primary schools and move children to a school which is basically on a country lane. In the mean time they are building more and more houses without thought of the consequences for the local area.

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caleb

Friday, March 8, 2013
Kids need to be safe to walk and cycle to school - the cars as usual are a self perpetuating negative problem.

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monkeynuts

Friday, March 8, 2013