"It was an absolute joke" - Parents back street closures around primary school to tackle parking 'chaos'

Parents of kids at a Stockport school where streets are now being closed at drop-off and pick-up times say they strongly support the idea. Starting this week, streets around a select group of primary schools will be shut to through traffic and those parking to drop off or collect their kids in the car as part of a new trial.

Town hall bosses said they hoped the move would make the areas around schools safer and help encourage more families to ditch the car for the school run and walk, cycle or use a scooter to ride into school instead.

The initiative sparked strong debate on the Manchester Evening News website and Facebook page when first reported yesterday (Tuesday).

READ MORE: School run shake-up as streets around seven Greater Manchester primaries to be shut

Some said they believed it could pose issues to parents dropping off kids on their way to work or those with children at more than one school.

However, the M.E.N visited one of the schools included in the Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) trial, St Matthew's CofE Primary in Edgeley, on Wednesday morning. All parents and local residents we spoke to said they believed it was long overdue.

"It was an absolute joke before," Samantha Plant said. "Because of the roads and how they are it was chaos. It's only being going a couple of days I know but it's already made a massive difference.

"For the kids especially. It's made them so much safer coming to school. My child suffers from anxiety and I think it's calmed him down a lot. So I hope it carries on."

"I think it's a good idea," Chris Ormiston, 38, said after dropping his son off at the school. "It's incredibly busy around here and people don't always stick to the zig-zags and the lines when they do park.