Residents anger at parent parking at new school on Kings Barton estate

There is currently only one approach road to Barton Farm Primary Academy causing congestion and pushing parents to park on nearby residential roads in Kings Barton to the anger of some locals.

Developer Cala Homes had expected only local children would attend the school and did not expect so many children to come from out of catchment and be taken by car.

The local county councillor Jackie Porter wants to see the children walking to school instead of being dropped off by their parents.

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One parent, who  asked not to be named, said: "A narrow dead end road leads to the school with no turning space. This has caused major issues with some residents becoming irate at parents parking in the estate. None of it is private or for residents only but they are becoming increasingly aggressive - waiting and watching from their flats and then threatening Mums.

"Dog food has been placed on cars, cars have been blocked in, threats have been made to put nails in tyres. One parent came back to found their car blocked in. Thankfully the car next to them had moved so they were able to manoeuvre out and a nail placed under their tyre".

Another parent, Hannah Drury, from Sutton Scotney, said: "In three occasions the same woman has caused trouble. On the first occasion she asked me not to park in her space so I assumed I was using one that she prefers to use, I apologised and used a different space for the days afterwards. A week later she came out with her dog and spoke to me and another mum, telling us we were still parking in her space even though we weren’t using any directly outside her flat or the one that I’d used before. After telling her we had been told by the school to use any legitimate parking throughout the estate, she became irate telling us that she would put nails under our cars."

Barton Farm Primary Academy

On another occasion the woman blocked her car in and sat in the car for 45 minutes and refused to move. On the following two days a man took photos of her car. "The incident did shake me up but I didn’t stop parking there because it’s safer for the children. I know there have been other incidents around the school."

Another mother said: "There are no car parking or drop off facilities at the school, which should have been put in place as the school expanded beyond the current needs of the estate. Perhaps it should have stuck with one class per year for longer until Kings Barton was more able to sustain it, particularly given there are spaces available in other local established schools. "

The school opened in September 2020 to serve Kings Barton which is being developed by Cala Homes. It is gradually growing with new years opening every September.

As the estate is only around a third-built there is currently only one access to the school instead of two when the estate is completed. It is often getting congested in the morning and afternoons.

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Parents are being asked not to park on the approach road and so have been using roads on the estate to the annoyance of some locals.

Ian Curry, Cala technical director, told the recent Kings Barton Forum, a city council committee of councillors, Cala and residents: "At risk of being controversial Cala can't be held responsible for people's poor driving. How about walking to school? The original plan was for the school to serve children of the development. That hasn't worked out.

Cllr Steve Cramoysan, forum chairman, said: "It's a bottleneck. There's no turning area and it gets jammed up."

He said the original intention was the school would serve local children who would walk to school.

County councillor Jackie Porter told the forum: "I agree with Mr Mr Curry, there shouldn't be people driving to school," but added that some families have children in three schools. "I don't want to encourage more children to be driven to school. I want to make it as difficult as possible. I would like children to walk to school."

Nicola Wells, chief executive of the academy that includes Barton Farm, said parking was a problem at most schools. The school has sent out letters urging parents to take care and to 'park and walk'.

"I don't want the school portrayed that there's a massive problem between our parents and local residents. I don't think it's helpful. We haven't had millions of complaints. We have had the odd one."

When the neighbourhood centre is built there will be a public car park close to the school available for the school drop-off.

The parent said: "Barton Farm Primary School has a catchment area of the Kings Barton development but as the development his yet to be completed, many children are from out of catchment. The previous headmistress visited nurseries to try to encourage parents to apply. The school is vibrant and now a popular choice.

"A large proportion of parents both work (the before/after school club is oversubscribed). These factors combined mean that many parents are having to drive to drop their children at school.

"At a local meeting, local councillor Jackie Porter denied there was a problem and said she wants to make it as difficult as possible for parents. She believes everyone should be walking.

"Sadly, Cala has not designed the estates so there is much space to park. There are many dropped curbs and no matter where you park, due to the density of housing, you will be near someone's home. It is completely unfair for parents to be demonised and made out to be lazy. We are hardworking parents trying to juggle.

"Surely local councillors want the school to be successful and should be working to foster relations between residents and the school. The parents who live on the estate have expressed dismay at how a few residents are behaving. It cannot be right for them to intimidate mostly women and children and recognise it is 15 minutes twice a day and has little impact.

"It's not as if they cannot access their properties or are unable to park. These residents are moving their cars to block others! They haven't just come home and found it busy. Cala and the council need to do something before an altercation escalates and more property is damaged. Pretending parents just need to walk from home is not a solution."