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By KIM JANSSEN
 

Pupils and parents from St Mary’s School Hampstead in Fitzjohns Avenue protesting against parking permits being cut
Jamie's knives out over school-run clampdown

Celeb chef fears loss of permits will bring Town Hall fines windfall

CELEBRITY chef Jamie Oliver and his wife Jools have joined Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor, Radio DJ Jono Coleman and hundreds of Hampstead parents and teachers objecting to Camden Council’s school-run clampdown.
The stars have added their voices to the Schools Travel Action Group (Stag), which has collected a petition of 1,300 signatures demanding the council reverse its policy of phasing out school parking permits, which Stag claims was imposed without proper consultation or workable alternatives.
Council leaders insist the policy is vital to cut afternoon rush-hour traffic and that it has the backing of residents fed-up of their parking bays being taken by parents in four-wheel drives.
But Jools Oliver, who lives with her husband in Primrose Hill and sends her daughters to school in Hampstead, said: “We are parents like any others who just want to find a way to take our children to and from school safely and efficiently and get on with our daily lives.
“Not everybody has the luxury of living close enough to walk to school. It is hard with young children in tow. The parking permits were a great solution by allowing us to park safely.
“By withdrawing them, with no alternatives in place, the council is already causing chaos.”
Mr McGregor, who lives with his family in Hampstead, said: “People should have the right to deliver and pick up their children from school without being fined for parking.
“The permits allow us 15 minutes and usually cars are parked for less time than that.
“Without the permits Camden can target the schools and make thousands in fines but should we not have the right to see our children safely to school every day?”
And Mr Coleman added: “Withdrawing permits is just another revenue ploy by Camden Council to issue more parking tickets, but they are trying to make it sound like it is a residents issue when it isn’t.”
A scrutiny panel of councillors last year recommended phasing out all school parking permits by 2008 and 40 per cent of the 6,500 permits originally in circulation have already been rescinded.
Mum Vicky Fobel, a solicitor with two children who is involved in the campaign, said: “There’s nothing I’d love more than to walk to school, or take public transport, but it’s just not feasible; we can’t afford to live closer to the school and there is simply no room on the buses for a buggy in the morning.
“If there was a practical alternative people would use it – a school bus, for example – but the public transport improvements are simply not there.”
Stag, backed by 15 private schools and three state primaries – is arguing that parents with no other option will continue to drive, causing chaos as they repeatedly circle the block waiting for their children to emerge from the school gates.
Sarum Hall head teacher Jane Scott added: “We have already seen that cutting down permits has not stopped parents from driving to school.”
Stag’s petition will be presented to the council by parents on March 1, with parking likely to be a key election issue in May.
A Town Hall press official said: “Residents were concerned that the volume of traffic and illegal and dangerous parking during the school run was blocking up the roads, making the streets dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists and having a detrimental effect on the local environment.
“The aim is not to stop all parents driving their children to school, but to encourage people to think about healthier and more environmentally friendly alternatives and that if they do drive, to park appropriately.”
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