Cartwright Drive in Shaw has been a topic of the school gates for a number of years, whether your child goes to brookfield or Shaw Ridge. The parking for the parents of children attending brookfield school has been a nightmare not least because of the fact that this road is on the route of a bus service that runs during both drop off and pick up time at the school.
As a parent of children who attend Shaw Ridge I know firsthand the problems there has been in getting either up or down Cartwright Drive during these times.
but,
The solution is no solution. Double yellow lines on both sides of the road from the Roundabout to 1/4 the distance of Cartwright Drive does nothing, if anything it compounds the problem. From the point at which the yellow lines stop the residential housing starts. How long do the Council envisage it will be before those residents start complaining about the fact that is it they who suffer as during these times they cannot either get on off their own drives as parents park there to drop off or collect? The congestion has simply moved up the road and is now outside of residents houses. The bus still has to try and negotiate the myriad of parked cars on both sides of the road rather than on one side and to add to the confusion there is the problem of residential access.
I accept that this is the simplest and without doubt the cheapest solution, but for those who live on Cartwright Drive it certainly isn’t the best solution
With a little forethought and a small part of the 106 monies the council could have and should have, widened the road from the pelican crossing to the roundabout using up the grass verge that buses, cars and lorries have been churning up for the past 20+ years.
A simple extension to the width of the road at less than the 1/4rf distance currently covered in double yellow lines would allow a safe double line of traffic to flow whilst allowing the parents to drop off and pick up their children from brookfield safely.
A quick fix, a Council who like their masters in Whitehall act before they think to score points with the electorate. I am sure that Councillor Perkins, Conservative member for Shaw and Nine elms will along with his fellow conservative councillors trumpet the fact that they have resolved the long running issue of parking at brookfield School, fixed just in time for the forth coming local elections?
Problem is, it isn’t and they haven’t! As long as the residents of Cartwright Drive have to put up with traffic cues outside their homes twice a day every school day of the year the problem will persist. Until the council puts it’s money where it’s mouth is and really addresses this problem with the road widening scheme then, all the double yellow lines in the World aren’t going to make a pennies worth of difference.
Mike Heal, Labour Candidate Shaw & Nine Elms