Extra measures are being considered to tackle illegal and dangerous parking outside schools.
Ideas put forward to Brighton and Hove City Council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee include body-worn cameras, public space protection orders, CCTV and extended parking restrictions.
A report going before the committee on Tuesday (22 January) highlights drawbacks with each option from data protection to cost.
Public space protection orders were ruled out as parents and carers would risk a £1,000 fine for anti-social parking.
The report said: “The criminalisation of parents dropping off children to school could be detrimental to the work carried out by the School Travel Team.
“They work with schools, nurseries, parents and children to encourage travel behaviour change through innovative and fun projects, which encourages participation and which is sustained for the long term.”
Body-worn cameras were also ruled out as only 10 of the city’s 21 school crossing patrol officers positions were filled – and only three of the seven asked would be willing to wear one.
Trials involving body cameras are currently under way in West Sussex, which officers recommend the council continues to monitor.
A car fitted with CCTV and automatic numberplate readers would cost at least £80,000 for a basic vehicle.
The costs would be higher because of the need for back office support as well as people to staff the vehicle.
The committee is recommended to continue with its current parking enforcement arrangements.
A total of five parking enforcement officers work on school routes, with three extra having started work last June.
They deal with school parking enforcement issues and parking offences outside Brighton and Hove’s controlled parking zones.
By recruiting extra officers, the approaches to schools have had a greater level of enforcement, with double parking tackled as well as the “School – keep clear” markings.
The extra officers were forecast to generate 80 per cent of the money needed to fund their posts by issuing six penalty charge notices a day.
But the average has turned out to be higher, with 6.25 tickets a day being issued.
In October, a petition called for parking enforcement at Hangleton Primary School and Goldstone School.
The school travel team and parking strategy and contracts team will continue to work together on the Safer Routes to School poject, supported by civil enforcement officers, the report said.
The Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall on Tuesday (22 January). The meeting, which starts at 4pm, is open to the public.
While I’m no fan of the way our parking wardens, like our speed cops and litter contractors, seem to go after the easy wins, a lot of the parking on the school run is at best selfish and at worst downright dangerous. Given the risk to children’s lives, I would rather see the parking company deploy many more staff to the areas around schools at the start and end of the school day – every day. Their visible presence might even prove a deterrent. At the same time, there should of course be much more of a push for children to walk and cycle to school.