Southsea school angered by proposed parking permit scheme – and headteachers says it will cost them £4,000 a year

Mayville High School has launched a campaign opposing Portsmouth City Council’s proposed new street parking scheme in St Simon’s Road because it says it will mean additional costs and will cause considerable disruption to school life.

Headteacher Rebecca Parkyn said: ‘It will be very difficult for parents to collect their children and their education will be impaired as a result of this proposal.

‘It will just make everyone’s life harder and there is no need for it. This will cause significant disruption to school.’

The permits, which would run between the hours of 4.30pm and 6.30pm, would cost Mayville High School nearly £4,000 a year just to park its minibuses and staff would face the extra costs of permits for their own cars.

Ms Parkyn said: ‘Between those hours we have pupils taking part in after-school clubs, in after-care, staff are in meetings, parents’ evenings start at 5pm usually and we have events or concerts on a very regular basis during the week during those times.

‘If PCC moved the timings to 5.30pm to 7.30pm that would be easier but even then it would still adversely affect school life.’

Conservative Group Leader Councillor Donna Jones is also opposed to the Lib Dem scheme, and says her Conservative Group have backing from the Labour Group.

Cllr Jones said: ‘We are completely against this, it only covers two hours a day and will only push the problem into other streets.

‘We support a comprehensive citywide approach to parking in Portsmouth and we are calling for a city wide referendum to allow residents to have their say producing proper schemes or getting rid of them all.’

Whilst Mayville High School are against the introduction of parking permits, many residents have welcomed the move due to the problems created by teachers and parents parking their cars.

Gary Wilson has lived on Kenilworth Road for 12 years.

‘I am one of the residents who has pushed for permit parking,’ he said. ‘The school has expanded and new flats have been built yet there has been no additional provision made for parking. At the moment I can’t work late as by the time I get home I won’t have a parking space.’

Gary also cited increased road congestion, noise and pollution as part of the parking problem.

‘Due to people parking either side of the road, cars can’t pass each other. It sometimes takes me 10 minutes to get out of my street,’ he added.

For residents who have their own private parking, they face the issue of being blocked in during busy periods.

Coralie Bellinger, who has lived on St Simon’s Road since 1984, said: ‘This morning I had to out by 9am. I had to park my car on the road as I knew I the driveway would end up blocked. It is mainly down to parents dropping off and picking up their children. There is so much congestion on this road that children’s safety is at risk.’

The Portsmouth Labour party launched a Park Up Pompey scheme last month pushing for commercial car parks to be opened up overnight for residents.