Issue - meetings

(a)     That the Committee note the historical issues associated with parking within the vicinity of schools and recognise the responsibilities of highway users in accordance with the requirements of the Highway Code;

(b)     That the Committee note the hierarchy of responsibility in relation to the management of traffic within the vicinity of schools and acknowledges the role of enforcement as a reactive measure, rather than a means to prevent initial occurrence; and

(c)     That the Committee approves the creation of a joint Task & Finish Group in order to explore the issues in further detail and develop a collaborative and preventative approach with key stakeholders, which will involve:-

•   Elected Members from the Education, Youth & Culture OSC and Environment & Economy OSC;

•   Officers from both the Education & Youth and Streetscene & Transportation portfolios;

•    Head Teachers

•    Elected Members invited to attend as required;

•    Officers from North Wales Police invited to attend as required.

Prior to consideration of the report, the Chair commented that every Member had, at some point, received concerns from residents regarding school parking.  She said that this continued to be an ongoing issue, that could not rely on a single solution to resolve it.  She thanked the Members who had emailed their concerns and points they wished to raise to the Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator and welcomed Members of the Environment & Economy Overview & Scrutiny Committee to the meeting, who had been invited due to the issue falling within the remit of both Committees.  She thanked the authors of the report for the clarification of the roles and responsibilities of all the parties who worked to resolve this issue.

The Chair also welcomed Mr. Andrew Dunbobbin, Police & Crime Commissioner to the meeting, who is in attendance to provide information on the role of the Police where there were concerns of school parking.

            The Chief Officer (Streetscene and Transportation) presented the report which provided Members with an overview of the problems currently experienced within the vicinity of the County’s schools, whilst also outlining the roles and responsibilities of all parties with a view to seeking a collaborative approach and effective solution.  She provided information on how the teams within the Streetscene and Transportation portfolio were organised, the resources which were available to support this, how the legislation worked and what could be achieved.

            The Transportation Manager commented that parking near schools was an historical problem experienced by every local authority with the reasons for this being the location of schools, inconsiderate and dangerous driving and parking by individuals as more parents were driving to school rather than walking.   Information on the Active Travel measures and improved infrastructure which included safer routes in community schemes, was given together with an overview of the constraints on what could be achieved at school sites.  From a road safety prospective, parental behaviour caused many of the problems around schools, which also linked to the wider congestion on the road network, pollution, and emissions. 

The Transportation Manager reported that a high volume of complaints were received around parking and traffic congestion together with requests for road safety reviews and the small Transport Traffic team who supporting this had to undertake assessments, design schemes and then bid for available grant funding.  Referring to Enforcement he provided information on the small team of Civil Parking Officers who were also required to undertake other enforcement duties.  An outline of the areas of highway enforcement that were covered by North Wales Police and the Council and the hierarchy of responsibility regarding traffic management and parking was outlined within the report. 

            The Regulatory Services Manager provided an overview of the Civil Parking Enforcement Team, which consisted of 10 Officers, 1 Supervisor and 1 Manager.  This team had a very broad remit, and she outlined the traffic, environmental and other areas of work they covered, with the demand on this team increasing.  Information on the enforcement provided across the 78 schools, with 25  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50