An Oldham traffic scheme hoping to make picking up and dropping off children at school much safer is underway.
The "School Streets" scheme launched on Monday morning at St Anne’s Primary School on Broadway in Royton.
Residents and parents at the school called the previous situation "pandemonium", saying cars used to "fly down" to drop kids off for another school over the road.
The scheme works by closing certain roads to motor vehicles around the schools at pickup and drop-off times, during term time only.
In the case of St Anne’s, the dead-end Ormerod Avenue is closed from 8.15am to 9am, and 2.45pm to 3.35pm on school days only, with permit holders, emergency vehicles, and blue badge holders exempted from the restrictions.
@theoldhamtimes The new Oldham #SchoolStreets has been launched by @officialtfgm to try to tackle 'pandemonium' on the streets outside the school. For more the whole story, read free on The Oldham Times. #Royton #Manchester ♬ original sound - The Oldham Times
According to the council, a "hands up" survey held in the school found on average 125 cars are being driven to the school twice a day, even though most pupils live within 0.68 miles.
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In conjunction, a permanent change to St Anne’s Avenue and Mellalieu Street has also been implemented, with drivers only able to go one way on the narrow streets.
At 2pm, the streets were quiet. With school pick-up time at 3.15pm, the roads seemed like any other backstreet, and it was hard to see why so many traffic restrictions could be needed.
Resident Valerie Roach lives on Mellalieu Street.
She doesn’t drive herself, but thought the changes were already having a positive impact.
Valerie said: “It seemed a lot better this morning. Normally you’ve got cars head-to-head all the way down Mellalieu and St Anne’s.
“Today (Monday) it was quite smooth. Usually it’s terrible. Parents arrive really, really early.
"They park outside 45 minutes early just to get a parking spot, and it’s quite noisy. Today it was a lot better.”
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Of the new one-way restrictions, Valerie said: “It is inconvenient for people, but something had to be done, it was pandemonium between 8 and 9, and quarter to three, quarter past. It was really bad.
“It’s a little inconvenient, but does it really matter if you go down St Anne’s or you go down Mellalieu? It doesn’t really matter if you’ve got a car.
“It’s a minor inconvenience if we do away with all the pandemonium we used to get.”
Sure enough, Valerie’s predictions of parents arriving early were right – the first parents started to arrive at 2.30pm – 45 minutes early.
Dad-of-three Craig drove to the school to pick up his kids.
He said: “It’s too early to say at the moment, but in the mornings it all gets blocked up here, so no-one can move anywhere.
“I generally park further up the street where you can get out quite easily, you get people parking on the corners where the walkway is, so people can’t cross the road, so I think it’ll be a good thing.”
In response to whether he thought the council's aim of getting more people to walk or cycle to school was a good thing and whether he'd consider it himself, he added: “I do think it’s a good thing, we live about a mile-and-a-half away, but it’s easier with three kids just to come to school in the car.”
The reaction in the area was broadly positive, though not everyone was completely happy.
Two residents of a house on Mellalieu Street who did not want to be named found the scheme confusing, and thought the new one-way restrictions would make it take longer to drive home.
One of the residents said: “For me, I come in both ends, going to Oldham I’ll go out that way, going to Royton I’ll go that way.
“It’s busy down on Oldham Road, so it’ll just get backed up down Houghton Street, the amount of people waiting to pull out and it’s just all one-way.
“I just think it doesn’t need it.”
The other resident said: “Does this mean now that my house, I have to have a permit all the time? Nobody knows what’s going on, we’ve had no information.”
While the residents did receive a leaflet with information on the scheme, as well as advertising in-person and online events explaining the scheme, the residents said they "didn’t really understand" it.
Brian, 74, was picking up his brother’s daughters.
Driving to the school from Rochdale, he said there was "no chance" he’d walk.
Brian said the situation near the school is usually "chaos", adding: “It’s wasn’t so bad this morning really, it was quite good.
“People just drive down here [Ormerod Avenue] and drop their kids off at the bottom for the school over the road [Oldham Academy North].
“It’s a wonder they haven’t hit anybody, they don’t just go at 2 mph.
“They fly down here, turn around, don’t care who’s there and then go out. So, I’m glad that [the bollards] has been put there, to stop that.”
Parent Jahangir Alam, who also drove to the school, also praised the scheme. He said: “It’s good, very good.
“Sometimes there’s too much traffic, it’s very busy. Now it’s one-way traffic, it’s good. My wife dropped off this morning and she said it’s good.”
One dad who comes to collect his daughters daily is a professional driver, carrying plenty of Oldhamers on the 409, 83, and 59 bus routes.
The dad said he thought the scheme "wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference".
He added: “I’m a vocational driver. You’re not meant to park on the drop kerbs where the bollards are, but you can’t get close to it because you’ve got Audis and BMWs who park there and park on the corners, so they restrict your view when you’re trying to cross the road.
“The bollards have been there a long time.
“They don’t care, nobody cares. Society, no-one cares any more. You can stick your be kind up your a*** because no-one cares anymore, it’s that simple.
“I drive every day to pick my daughter up. Nine times out of 10 we go to the garage and buy some sweets or an ice cream when the weather’s like today.
“The simple reason is when we walk back the roads are empty and we can just drive out.
“I usually park on the side street or on Jones Street. No-one cares mate. It’s not going to make a bli… I drive a bus for a living and I can drive along in the traffic and see 200 cars with 200 people. Just a driver in a car.
“No-one’s going to take a blind bit of notice, no-one’s interested in your cycle to work schemes or park and ride schemes, they just want to get from A to B as quick as possible without any harassment.
“I live by the football ground. We do walk occasionally, I considered it today but I left it late, by the time I sorted my dogs out and the rest of my house, I get a shopping list off my missus I thought I better go, I’ll wizz up in the car because I’m now late. Occasionally I do walk.”
Multiple schools in Manchester already have school streets, such as at Manley Park Primary School.
The initial announcement by the council in February said eight primary schools would be included, with the schemes then set to launch from February 20.
However, the council then announced a "brief delay" to the schemes without announcing a specific date it would return.
The council now says more schools will be added to the scheme in the future.
The initiative is being funded by nearly £85,000 from Transport for Greater Manchester and the Department for Transport – which will also cover the addition of future schools.
According to Transport for Greater Manchester, 84 per cent of school runs in Greater Manchester are under one mile – equivalent to a four-minute bike ride or a 15-minute walk.
An Experimental Traffic Regulation Order is in place for Oldham’s new school street and the council says there will be opportunities over the coming months for residents, businesses, parents and the schools to give their feedback on the schemes and how they are working.
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