Residents call for action over school traffic scheme

Concerns have been raised by residents living near a Frome school over the enforcement of a traffic scheme, with reports of congestion, speeding, blocked driveways and verbal abuse.

People living near Oakfield Academy are calling for greater enforcement of the Safer School Streets scheme, which they say is failing to prevent traffic problems during school drop-off and pick-up times.

The scheme was made permanent last September following an 18-month trial.

It introduced timed road closures during school drop-off and pick-up times and a 20mph zone around Oakfield Academy, Trinity First School, Critchill School and Avanti Park School.

However, residents say motorists regularly ignore the restrictions, park on pavements and in private car parks, leave engines idling and drop litter while waiting for up to 45 minutes for pupils to be dismissed.

Local resident Julia said, “I was walking my dog and a car literally drove down the road on the pavement at us. Twice a day, every day, we see cars parked up on the pavements right down both sides of our street, making it impossible to get home or get out. Children run across the road without looking in front of cars. We have a ’Safer Streets’ Scheme which has been a total failure, is widely ignored and is not policed or enforced or even supported in any way that we can see.”

Residents also say they have been subjected to verbal abuse when confronting drivers who block access to their properties.

Another resident, Alan, described how drivers regularly block his driveway with their engines running.

He said, “I just want the abuse to stop. There doesn’t seem to be any restrictions at the moment. There was originally but it has all stopped. A lot of people arrive early now. At 10 past two outside my gate was a car parked there waiting for someone to come out of school, 45 minutes before.

“Across the road somebody else arrived about quarter past and blocked the drive up and sat in the car with the engine running for 45 minutes. My big issue is, if they are going to park here for goodness’ sake turn the engine off. Now, I have had one or two conversations with people and all you get is a pile of abuse back. My late wife was a wheelchair user and was sitting on the patio, I had to go out and ask them to turn their engines off and I just got a load of abuse back.”

Marcus, another neighbour, said parents are frequently found smoking, littering and ignoring private parking boundaries in nearby residential areas.

He also raised concerns about what he described as ‘horrific’ speeding outside the school and has started a speed watch with another neighbour to monitor the issue.

The scheme was spearheaded by Frome Town Council, in partnership with Somerset Council and the active travel charity Walk Wheel Cycle Trust, formerly Sustrans. It was introduced to create safer journeys to and from school for children.

Enforcement of the parking and traffic restrictions sits with Somerset Council.

Deputy Town Clerk and project lead Jane Llewellyn said the town council will raise the issues being reported at Oakfield again with Somerset Council and the police and ask that enforcement of the scheme is reviewed.

She said, “We’re really sorry to hear about the difficulties residents around Oakfield Academy are experiencing, particularly reports of blocked driveways, and confrontational behaviour. This isn’t acceptable.

“Frome Town Council delivered School Streets in partnership with Somerset Highways and Sustrans as a way of addressing parking issues and driver behaviour around school drop off times. Evidence suggests that it does make journeys to school safer and encourages more walking, wheeling and cycling. However, enforcement of parking and traffic restrictions sits with Somerset Council and the police rather than the town council and continues to be an issue. We do encourage residents to report incidents and provide details where possible so that concerns and evidence can be passed to the appropriate authorities and we do pass back any feedback that we receive.”