Parking restrictions planned outside Wiltshire school

Abbeyfield School in Chippenham has gone to lengths to prevent parked cars on Stanley Lane from causing issues during pick up and drop off times.

This has included arranging for parents to use the nearby Stanley Park Sports Ground car park, while it is also understood the school supported a proposal for parking restrictions on Stanley Lane.

Wiltshire Council has now confirmed these plans are likely to be implemented next spring.

But, despite these efforts, a recent highways improvement request claims the road is still being used for parking, creating a “dangerous” situation.

It said: “Every day on school pick up from Abbeyfield School, despite numerous emails to the parents from the school requesting nobody parks on the road… multiple parents are parking on the main road, including on the junction which is causing extreme traffic and dangerous conditions for children leaving the school.

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Stanley Lane in Chippenham (Image: Newsquest) “Most of the culprits are arriving up to an hour and a half before school pick up where there are more than sufficient parking spaces and they are still parking on the road.

“It can take up to 30 minutes to get out of the school car park on this junction due to this and also people are tending to drive faster so as not to get stuck halfway on this stretch which will inevitably lead to an accident as the children are filtering out of school.”

This request has suggested double yellow lines should be installed outside the school, but this was not supported as a similar proposal is already in the pipeline.

The existing request, which would mean double yellow lines on the road directly outside the entrance, has been supported by the Local Highway and Footway Improvement Group but requires a public consultation.

This process has been delayed because the restrictions have been incorporated into a wider bath of proposed changes for cost effectiveness.

If no significant objections arise the council expects to implement the restrictions in spring 2025.

Stanley Lane in Chippenham (Image: Newsquest) Explaining why Chippenham Town Council had not put the latest plans forward to Wiltshire Council, Cllr Matthew Short said it would duplicate the existing request.

He said: “It’s very frustrating for all of us that it takes such a long time to get apparently simple changes done.

“I fully sympathise with the request and fully agree with it but if we put it up we’re essentially duplicating something… it’s already in progress.”