WREXHAM: Parking problems lead to council petition

Hermitage Councillor Graham Rogers (Lab) is currently going door-to-door to speak to residents in his ward about the number of parked cars outside St Christopher’s School in Stockwell Grove, Hightown.

He is collecting signatures for a petition to highlight the issue of poor parking in the vicinity of the school which he says has been getting out of hand for several years now.

The school provides education for pupils aged six to 19 with complex learning and development needs, and space for staff, parents and nearby residents to park near the site is increasingly at a premium according to Cllr Rogers.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said: “It’s a long-term situation and for three years now I’ve been talking with council officers and the headteacher about what we can do.

“Come the new term I’ll be handing in the petition to council officers in environment and education.

“I’ve got about 300 to 400 signatures already, and I’m speaking to residents along the whole of Stockwell Grove and part of Hermitage Drive so about three quarters of a mile.

“The response I’ve had from people so far is that they are very supportive of something being done.

“I sympathise with the pupils and parents, and all schools in Wrexham have these problems, but with the other schools it is just at drop off and pick up times. Here it is all day between 8am to 3.30pm.

Cllr Graham Rogers (Image: Wrexham Council)

“The situation here now is spilling into Norman Road, from dropping off time to picking up time.

“You have taxis and minibuses parking alongside cars and they’re across the central reservation some days.

“If someone wanted to get an ambulance or fire engine down there, they’d have no chance so it could be putting lives at risk.

There has been talk of a replacement school building and new facilities in the future for St Christopher’s which could in turn improve the parking situation, but Cllr Rogers says there needs to be a resolution now.

“One suggestion I have made previously is that those cars could be parked on part of the school field”, he said.

“A few bob would need to be spent on it, maybe to put a hardcore surface down, but it would be better than what is happening at the moment.

“I could get double yellow lines put down but there aren’t the enforcement officers available to keep on top of it, and that would only move the problem elsewhere and annoy other people, if they started parking at the flats for example.

“We’re looking to find a solution that suits everyone.”

The petition will be handed in to council officers in September.