It has been drawn to the attention of the Parish Council that many parents trying to reach Bartholomew School or the nearby play area are using Old Witney Road to park their cars, to the continued frustration of the residents.
Unfortunately, many students at the school live outside the village and so parents drive their children to school, parking their cars in nearby residential roads. This is a source of frustration for local residents, especially when events (such as football matches) are being held at the school, causing areas such as Old Witney Road to be full of parked cars for hours at a time. Some of these vehicles may be limiting access or preventing local people from finding space to park outside their home.
Parents are within their rights to park in areas without double yellow lines and we recognise their desire to limit how far they need to walk. However, we would like to encourage all parents to consider the safety of residents and be considerate when deciding where to leave their car.
Eynsham’s Back Lane car park can be used for school drop-off and pick-up – it’s a short walk to the school from here – while there are also bus services that coincide with the school day that could be the ‘greener’ alternative, depending on proximity to the bus route (see www.firstandlastmile.org.uk for routes and times).
We are going to reach out to Bartholomew School to explore whether alternative parking locations can be provided to parents for events such as sports matches to help ease the congestion on our smaller residential roads.