Temporary parking restrictions for Thatcham school
Ten months of disruption for parents and residents while extension to primary school is built
PARENTS are being encouraged to walk their children to Spurcroft Primary School for the next 10 months while construction work takes place.
West Berkshire Council will be introducing a system of single and double yellow line restrictions in Spurcroft Road from the end of July to allow construction traffic to access the site.
The council has requested that the order come into force from July 20 until May 27, 2016.
A double yellow parking restriction will apply on both sides of Spurcroft Road from The Moors to Goose Green Way, with a single yellow restriction extending along the remainder of the eastern side of the road.
Temporary cone restrictions will then be in place along the western side of Spurcroft Road from October 1 to December 11, 2015.
The extension will provide six new classrooms, while the number of spaces in the the school car park will increase by 11.
Deliveries began on Monday, with contractors moving on site to prepare for the expansion works, the main body of which will be carried out during the school holiday.
In a letter to parents the school said that the parking restrictions would severely limit parking and that parents and vistors will be unable to park at the school from July 6.
It adds that it will do all it can to allow parents to drive into school in the morning and do a ‘kiss and drop’ at the roundabout within the car park.
“Children can be dropped off, but cars must not be parked up or left at any time.
“If we find that parents are abusing the kiss and drop scheme, sadly we will be forced to close the gates to all parents vehicles for reasons of safety,” the letter reads.
Contractors will dig up the car park and make major structural changes from July 23, meaning that the only access to the school and the Wild Wood Club will be through the side gate.
It adds that access will be hard for the duration of the build but the improved facilities will be well worth the effort.
Headteacher Nathan Butler-Broad encouraged parents to be considerate to the school’s neighbours and to not use a car to transport their children to school while the order was in place.
He said that a high percentage of parents walked or cycled already but there was always room for improvements.
Local residents raised concerns about the extension project, saying that traffic levels in the already congested road would increase and more children attending the school would add to the misery of a lack of parking and blocked drives during school runs.
