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Why parents cannot avoid the school run
• STATE school parents are less visible than their private school counterparts in campaigning for retaining a safe level of parking permits mainly because they have been heavily discouraged by Camden Council, through its schools, from doing so.
The council’s own figures show nearly a third of children in state primary schools in the permits scheme are driven to school.
The school-run problem has little to do with social conscience and much more to do with inadequate alternatives and a poor spread of schools in north-west London.
We live with our young children in Highgate and would love to be able to walk to school with them but so far this has not been an option. We have had no choice but to drive to a school in Hampstead. We have applied to our local state schools and are still on the waiting lists in the hope of a place arising soon.
We have one child at nursery in NW11 and another in NW3 and in addition I work part-time. Expecting everyone to walk to school or take public transport is impractical. With two young children, we cannot rely on taking several buses and expect to arrive on time at each destination and also get to work on time.
Many of us cannot afford to live in NW3, where many of the schools are located. Residents who have moved into NW3 over the last 30 years must have known how many schools there are in this area and the congestion that exists.
In any case, congestion is mostly caused by commuters and not by parents. Look at Finchley Road, where there are no schools – logjammed every morning.
Taking away the remaining permits (of which only 40 per cent are left today) will only cause mayhem on the roads in NW3. Parking permits help ease congestion as they allow parents to drop off their children quickly. They stop parents from circling and queuing for legal spaces, thus improving safety and traffic.
S SLAVIN
(Address supplied) N6
• THE great majority of children attend schools within walking distance of their homes. It should only be in exceptional circumstances that parents need to ferry children to school in cars.
UCS is a fine example. If parents must insist on opting out of the state system in favour of independent schools, they cannot expect to be compensated in the form of parking vouchers or additional spaces provided by Camden Council.
Public transport has rapidly improved. All under-16s now have free bus journeys, and Tube Travelcards are as little as £1 per day. Schools have a duty to ensure parents make the best use of what is available.
AXEL J LANDIN
UK Youth Parliament representative for Camden
Bramshill Gardens, NW5
• PARENTS who drive children to school are no more getting special treatment than residents entitled to park near their homes and shoppers who enjoy extensive pay-and-display provision on high streets (Why should parents be given special treatment? April 12).
Taking away school parking permits is a knee-jerk policy that will not solve congestion and parking problems.
School-run parking permits have already been reduced by 60 per cent with no noticeable reduction in congestion. Further reduction will simply cause a move from controlled to uncontrolled parking with consequent safety problems.
Any new policy must address the reasons why some parents have to drive. Many have very young children, and some live a long way from their schools because they cannot get into schools nearer home.
Schools Travel Action Group (Stag) has been working with schools and with Camden Council to make progress on alternatives like school buses. There are schemes in their infancy that, if rolled out comprehensively, could make a big impact on the problem.
The assumption of the old council, that taking away school parking permits would result in the spontaneous creation of alternative transport, is patently unrealistic. The new council has a unique opportunity to work with schools and parents to cultivate such schemes.
Stag is not a motorist group. Most of us walk, cycle and use public transport much of the time or car share extensively. Few of us drive 4x4s. We have argued for better enforcement of parking regulations and for a charge on school-run parking permits to fund “green” travel alternatives.
Contrary to suggestions that we are promoting child obesity, we all encourage exercise and healthy lifestyles for our children. We urge readers to visit any of the Hampstead schools and see if they can find an obese child, as we have yet to find one.
To suggest that the school run is alone responsible for dangerous, congested roads is absurd when around three out of four cars are driven by commuters. We have to work towards solving this problem but also keep it in context.
We will see a lot more progress in solving the school-run problem if those who suffer its effects would stop demonising parents who drive and pointing the finger at schools, whose main focus is to educate children. I hope they will start putting their energies, as we are doing, into finding solutions that can actually work.
VICKY FOBEL
Grange Gardens, NW3
and JACKIE ORLIK
Highbury Terrace Mews, N5
Co-chairs of Schools Travel Action Group
• VIOLET Elizabeth Bott seems to have become the model for the school-run parents. Rather than screaming until they are sick, they declare they will continue to drive and park dangerously and illegally no matter what Camden Council does to tackle the pollution and gridlock in the Fitzjohn’s Avenue area and Belsize during term time.
What is the lesson these parents are teaching their children? Break the law, drive dangerously and give no heed to anyone else, even your classmates.
Younger children learn as much from the family as from school. While citizenship is not a statutory subject for the under-11s, the Department for Education and Skills and the Citizenship Foundation have said the subject can be introduced to children from nursery years onwards.
Topics include understanding how one’s actions affect others and looking at examples of respectful behaviour.
HELEN CORDELL
Daleham Mews, NW3
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