Hackney school roads ‘not safe’ for kids

Children’s lives are being put at risk because of costing cutting which means road safety measures around schools cannot be enforced, a school governor has claimed.

According to correspondence between Benthal School governor Jeremy Gilpin and Hackney Council, parking restrictions around the borough’s schools are unenforceable because of lack of funds and a poorly drawn-up Traffic Management Order (TMO).

The email exchange reveals that flaws in the 2008 Traffic Management Order (the document meant to regulate road safety around all schools in the borough) have meant that whilst zig-zag lines and signage are in place to deter drivers from clogging up school roads, they are purely advisory and traffic enforcement officers are powerless to ticket drivers ignoring the rules.

The father of a student at Benthal School noticed poorly-maintained and unenforced ‘keep clear’ markings on Maury Road and Benthal Road where pupils are dropped off and collected.

Mr Gilpin assumed the solution would be simple — re-paint the lines and enforce parking regulations.

But when he contacted the council’s Streetscene department, its head, Andrew Cunningham, admitted the TMO fails to provide details of the operational times and that parking regulations therefore cannot be enforced.

He also admitted enforcement is not possible if road markings and signs are poorly maintained, and that work to improve the signage around the school had been put on hold because of financial constraints.

Mr Cunningham’s correspondence explicitly lays out the failings of the TMO, which includes a failure to state the hours of enforcement, and admits that making the TMO enforceable is not just a matter of re-painting lines, it is a matter of re-writing the document  – a costly process which involves surveying the parking needs of all the borough’s schools.

The process, which is now under way, has so far taken eleven months from the date Gilpin raised the issue, and five years since the faulty TMO was approved.

By failing to rectify the problem sooner, Mr Gilpin says Hackney Council has shirked its duties at the expense of child safety: “This is not a parking issue, it is a children’s road safety issue.  The council has a statutory obligation to line, sign and enforce these important road safety provisions.”

Mr Gilpin is adamant that only a financial penalty will deter drivers from abusing the accidental leniency of the road safety law, and is baffled as to why this has not been dealt with sooner.

In direct contradiction to Mr Cunningham, Cllr Feryal Demirci,  Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said the TMO is “valid and enforceable”, but was not as robust as it should have been and was being put right.

“We would ask that for the safety of both children and adults, that parents and guardians don’t park on zig zag lines outside Hackney’s schools at anytime,”she said.

Note: this article was amended at 8.30pm Monday 13 February 2012 to include additional information.