Horsham Council have informed that in 3 months' time, they will no longer recognise school-issued parking permits for the parents of St Mary’s Primary School, Horsham.  We are disappointed that this decision was taken by the Council without a consultation involving the school.

Our main concerns are:

We are a church school serving the parish of Horsham, without a fixed catchment area. We therefore take pupils from all over the parish, some of whom have no option other than driving.

There is a very strong national agenda from the DfE to improve school attendance and punctuality. The school is required to do all it can to ensure parents can get their children to school every day, on time. The Council's decision goes against this effort and makes it much harder for parents.

Removing free parking near school will likely push traffic issues into the small number of local residential roads where parking is not restricted, damaging neighbourhood relationships and causing the council further issues elsewhere.

We are informed that this decision has been taken in part due to the misuse of parking permits by some.  This matter has not been raised with the school so that it can be addressed or resolved in other ways.  

We are concerned about creating a more dangerous situation for pedestrians, increasing the likelihood of cars 'hovering' and causing congestion, and raising pollution with engines left running if people are unable to park safely.

No alternative options have been explored, or other solutions been offered.  
 
We do, however, agree that parking around school is an issue that needs addressing and would welcome a collaboration with the council to find a sensible solution.

Options which we feel should be explored include:

Council-enforced permits for people living over a certain distance from school.

Free parking windows in key roads at pick up / drop off times during school terms.

Improved facilities for pedestrians and cyclists in the area around the school, such as safe road crossings, wider footpaths from Chesworth Road and limiting speed on Denne Road, to make walking to school a more appealing option.

Most importantly, more needs to be done to address anti-social behaviour in the areas surrounding the school as this prevents many parents/carers from allowing children to walk and cycle to school on their own.

Please sign this petition to support our school community.  This change will have a huge and costly impact on families and we want to work more collaboratively rather than just face a harmful widespread ban.