Dear Sir,
Parking in Aycliffe Village has been a problem and a cause for concern for a number of years. Action Groups have looked at ways of tackling the issue through a number of ways. These have included: walking buses; cycle or scoot to school weeks and other schemes aimed at promoting responsible use of cars in order to improve resident parking on the streets around the school.
In the summer of this year, I approached Adam White of Great Aycliffe & Middridge Partnership, GAMP, to see if a grant was available to improve the parking capacity in the school grounds in order to alleviate the issue by reducing the number of staff cars parking on the streets outside the school.
An application for funding support was made to GAMP and through the Neighbourhood Budget allocations of Councillor’s Jed Hillary and Sarah Iverson, coupled with a contribution of £1,000 from the school the project was able to commence.
The Car Park alteration was carried out by GLW Grounds Services, who did an excellent job transforming the areas to be used to accommodate the cars. The work has already had a significant impact on the number of cars parked on the street outside the school.
Here are some photographs of the car parks in school that have been extended as a result of the neighbourhood grants from Councillors Iveson and Hillary.
Cars outside school have reduced significantly with eight extra parking spaces having been created within the school grounds. One local resident remarked that ‘It was lovely to be able to park outside her own house again!’ and Mr Haigh, a parent of former pupils to the school, also remarked that ‘The reduction in number of cars out on the street was a big improvement.’
It is hoped that the improvements made will be a long term solution to a long term problem and reduce the number of incidents caused by inconsiderate parking permanently.
I would like to thank Mr White for his help in submitting the bid and for the very generous grants from both Councillors in order to allow the project to become a reality.
J.P. Gargan, Head Teacher
