School run traffic chaos talks take place

Talks have been held at Cleobury Mortimer Primary School over the problem caused by the volume of traffic on the school run as the roads struggle to cope with the town's growing population.

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Representatives from the school, Cleobury Mortimer Parish Council, Shropshire Council and West Mercia Police have come together with the residents of Langland Road, who raised a petition to say something needed to be done about the amount of cars driving and parking around the school.

The meeting was arranged to get everyone in one place to talk about realistic solutions, according to Matt Sheehan, clerk of Cleobury Mortimer Parish Council.

He said: "It was a concern brought to the parish council by residents around the primary school.

"They say cars are blocking gateways and parking on pavements so that residents couldn't get out and in at certain times of the day. They are blocking drives when people are trying to go to work.

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"There is also a safety issue, where children are coming and going, especially as you have the buses coming down from Lacon Childe School and going through there as well."

"It is the amount of parents picking up and dropping off children. It's the convergence of traffic that is causing a bit of chaos," he said.

"It's mainly down to the fact that Cleobury Mortimer is growing so much now."

He said there had been an influx of families in the small town as about 100 new houses and a new medical centre had sprung up recently - and the town was set to grow further.

He said council, police and parking officers all gathered to see the problem first hand and give their input at the same time.

"We went up and looked at it when it was at its worst to see what could be done, and various proposals came out of that.

"The parish council is working hand in hand with various groups and residents. We try to get everybody together at the same time and actually talk about it, and we find that approach works a lot quicker," Mr Sheehan said.

He said proposals included setting up a pool of volunteers to walk groups of children to school from nearby car parks, which parents would be advised to use if possible.

Suggestions and advice from the meeting will now be reported back to Cleobury Mortimer Parish Council at the authority's next full meeting to decide how to proceed, said Mr Sheehan.