Residents living near 2,000-student secondary school in Northampton demand action over 'plague' of 'thoughtless' parents' parking

Residents living near The Duston School, home to 2,000 students, are raising concerns over traffic chaos caused by the school’s drop-off and pick-up routines.

Jillian Bone, a resident living less than 100 metres from the school, says the situation is becoming ‘unbearable’.

School principal, Sam Strickland, says they have urged parents not to drive their children to school and they have raised concerns with the relevant authorities to find solutions.

She said: "Every day, morning and afternoon during the working week, we are plagued by school traffic restricting Berrywood Road, and the residential roads opposite are filled with parked cars. Cars that are parked without any thought or consideration for residents. Driveways are blocked, the throughway is restricted to the point where aggression from parents is a regular, not a rare, occurrence.”

Jillian says the problem dates back to 2013, when a traffic management plan was agreed upon as part of the school’s planning permission.

However, the promised plan, which was supposed to allow parents to drop off and pick up children more smoothly, has never been implemented, she says, and the school gates remain shut during peak times.

Despite complaints from residents, the school has cited safeguarding concerns as the reason for not opening more routes.

Jillian added that although the school principal requests parents show consideration when parking on residential streets, it has had little effect.

She said: "The traffic management works well at other local schools," referring to examples like Campion School in Bugbrooke.

She also highlighted that the school now only has one exit on Berrywood Road after two other exits were closed, making the situation even worse.

Concerns about environmental damage, blocked junctions, and limited access for emergency vehicles have also been raised. Jillian fears that the situation could lead to a serious accident.

She said: "We feel like we're being ignored by the school and West Northamptonshire Council.”

Responding, Duston School Principal Sam Strickland said: “Upon joining the school in 2017, I had to swiftly review the car parking situation within the school grounds, as an unfit-for-purpose drop-off approach was in place for primary-phase parents. This approach was built upon an Americanised premise that parents would quite literally drop their child off via their car outside the primary-phase building on the school site. The primary phase houses 420 children, and the school as a whole has over 2000 pupils in attendance. If every parent were to drive their child to school, the situation within the school grounds would be, at the very best, chaotic. The historic car parking approach, where all parents could enter the school grounds via their car, was not fit for purpose and crucially a safeguarding risk, posing a huge risk to the entire school community. A decision was made to rationalise the number of parents parking on the school grounds, with parking permits issued to vulnerable and disabled parents and families facing serious safeguarding concerns. There are also approximately 200 staff working at the school. First and foremost, the school has a responsibility to provide all employees with a parking space and fundamentally to ensure that the school and the children and staff of the school are safeguarded.

“The overwhelming majority of our school community live within a mile of the school, and as a school serving the immediate Duston community, parents and children attending the school are actively encouraged to walk or cycle to school. There is no real need for parents to drive their child to school.

“We have raised concerns with the local police, highways agency, and local authority regarding the driving and parking habits of parents who are not adhering to the highway code, road markings, and showing a lack of consideration to local residents. However, the local roads near the school are public roads, and most roads are not double yellow-lined. Therefore, the public are legally free to park on the roads within the vicinity of the school, and as a school, we can only appeal to the better nature of parents to do so legally and respectfully. Almost every school in the country faces an issue with parental parking both at the end and start of the school day. The Duston School is not an exceptional case study here, and this matter plagues almost every school in the land. We are due to meet with the local parish council, police, highways agency, and local authority again to discuss the situation within the local community.”

Councillor Andrew Holt, Chairman of Upton Parish Council, said: "We recognise the impact of traffic congestion and parking issues on the Berrywood Road area. Upton Parish Council is not the authority responsible for education or highways. However, we’ve met with The Duston School and are working to bring together parties with direct influence on education, highways, and planning in WNC, to devise and implement measures that will improve the current situation. We’re committed to addressing the community's concerns and will keep you updated as we make progress.”

This newspaper is awaiting comment from WNC.