Stanbury parking chaos talks are planned (From Keighley News)

Stanbury parking chaos talks are planned

7:00pm Thursday 28th February 2013 in News By David Knights

Talks are being held today to tackle twice-daily school-run dangers on the main road through Stanbury.

Police, councillors and council officers will thrash out potential solutions to the hazards faced by Stanbury Primary School pupils.

News of the meeting came as one parent told the Keighley News of regular traffic snarl-ups and crossing perils.

Chris Haggo said he recently saw a car stop on the zig-zag lines outside the school to drop off a child.

He added: “Sadly, this is not an isolated case, as the road congests with cars arriving at the school.

“Not all drivers are considerate, parking in inappropriate places. The road becomes a bottleneck.

“Children and their parents have to cross back and forth over the road between the cars.”

Mr Haggo said the problem was made worse by the Keighley-Stanbury bus going through the village at the same time.

He added: “It is time the council and bus company took some responsibility before a child is seriously or fatally injured.”

Stanbury School headteacher, Graham Swinbourne, said a sign was put up last September warning people not to park directly outside the building.

He said parents were regularly asked to be considerate when dropping off and collecting children.

Mr Swinbourne added: “It’s a very small road and is used as a route to Colne from Keighley, so it gets quite a lot of traffic.”

Sgt Chris Watson, of the Bingley and Worth Neighbourhood Policing Team, said Stanbury’s problems were much like those outside other schools.

He added: “A few thoughtless individuals cause problems for other road users. We visit the school regularly to monitor the situation.”

Sgt Watson said possible solutions would be discussed today by the ward partnership team, which brings together organisations and politicians covering Worth Valley.

Michael Eggleton, marketing director with bus company Transdev, said the timings of buses through Stanbury were reviewed regularly.

He added: “We concluded it wouldn’t be the right thing to change. At that time of the morning, our buses are busy and people rely on us to get to places on time, including children getting to school.”