‘This must stop’: Eastbourne mother raises safety concerns regarding parking by primary school

Petra O'Neill has highlighted ‘hazardous parking’ near Bourne Primary School in Melbourne and Sydney Road which ‘compromises the safety’ of children.

The mother said her and her eight-year-old child often have to walk on the road to get to school due to cars parked on the pavement.

Mrs O’Neill said: "Walking our children to and from school should be a simple and safe task, yet it has become a daily ordeal for parents in our community. The presence of vehicles parked inconsiderately on the pavement forces parents to navigate a hazardous path on the road.

"This situation has created an alarming environment that compromises the safety and well-being of our children.”

She added: “Parents should not have to feel intimidated or fear for their safety while doing something as fundamental as walking their children to school.”

The mother said she has requested parking restrictions to be added to the roads.

She said: "We, as parents, teach our children from a young age that [the] pavement is their space to use and that they need to stop at the curb because the road poses danger to them, yet they cannot follow this simple rule on the way to school. Daily I encounter desperate parents with buggies having to walk on the road because of inconsiderate parking and I find myself in a situation of having to walk on the road. This must stop.”

Mrs O’Neill added: “Such parking causes damage to pavements, obstructs the view, compromises access and is a significant safety concern."

An East Sussex County Council spokesperson said: “There are a number of roads around East Sussex where cars park partly on the pavement to leave enough space for vehicles to pass and for pedestrians to use the remaining pavement space. This is the case in roads around Bourne Primary School.

“There is currently no national legislation that bans parking on pavements. In areas where there are no parking restrictions our officers cannot carry out enforcement, but cars that are completely blocking the pavements should be reported to Sussex Police through Operation Crackdown.

“We carry out regular parking reviews to consider requests for changes to parking controls or for new restrictions.

"The next review for Eastbourne is due to start in November 2023 and members of the public can request restrictions by completing a parking restriction request form at www.eastsussex.gov.uk/parking/parking-reviews/form-parking-controls.”