On 13 Dec 2018 at 6:10pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
What on earth makes the parents of children attending Southover school think it's ok to block the lane approaching the school while they drop their kids off?
For a few mornings over the last couple of weeks, I have driven along Southover High Street, and found it gridlocked because the little lane that leads to the school is blocked by people dropping their kids off.
Other people waiting to turn into the lane are forced to wait in Southover High Street for the queue to move before they can turn into the lane. Twice, the queue has been backed up right to the mini-roundabout by the Swan. It's been made worse, I think, because the access to the underground car park for the old Roche building is now at the rear of the building, because of the building works going on at the front.
For goodness sake, park up and walk to the school to drop the kids off!
On 13 Dec 2018 at 6:50pm CurriedFavour wrote:
Park up? In all the dozens of parking spaces available, yes great idea. Or perhaps they should throw their kids out whilst the car is still moving so you’re not inconvenienced a moment longer. How about you park up and walk, you and your car are part of the congestion problem.
On 13 Dec 2018 at 8:31pm Tipex wrote:
For once ATC I disagree. What do you suggest? Parents need to drop their kids off before dashing off to work so their options are limited. Annoying I'm sure but what's the alternative?
On 13 Dec 2018 at 8:46pm Dreamer wrote:
I don't kniw Tipex. Have the kuds walk? Take the bus? Do what kids used to do. Before parents turned into helicopter parents.
On 13 Dec 2018 at 9:19pm Tipex wrote:
Dreamer - interpreting what you seem to be saying reflects a twee victorian age. The reality is that most parents these days need to drop their kids off ASAP and get to work to pay for their kids. Twee victorian images of rosy-cheeked urchins skipping off to school happily are unrealistic and unhelpful.
On 13 Dec 2018 at 9:27pm Dreamer wrote:
I missed Queen Victirua luving into the 90ies. Latch key kids were a thing in the 80ies. And they survived. No, thus has nothing to do with both parents working. It has everything to do with parents spoiling their kids, shielding them from real life, preventing them from gaining independence, from learning to take responsibility. People moaning about "millennials"? This is ground zero.
On 13 Dec 2018 at 10:45pm Hyena wrote:
@Tipex , on no not you again .
On 14 Dec 2018 at 7:58am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
@CurriedFavour: good suggestion, but it's a long walk to Piddinghoe, and on to Peacehaven, which is where I was going.
@Tipex: I get it's not easy, but Southover High Street is a busy road and one of the main routes into/out of town.
I'm fortunate in that I can plan my working day so that in future I have no need to go along there at that time of day, other people aren't so lucky.
Maybe they should make the St Anne's site into a car park. 
On 14 Dec 2018 at 8:21am CurriedFavour wrote:
Apologies for sarcasm. Some sort of school bus or park n ride scheme might help. It’s sadly inevitable with hundreds of kids trying to get to a school in the middle of a tiny lanes old town though.
On 14 Dec 2018 at 10:29am Bystander wrote:
Isn't this partly to do with the closure of Pells - that loads of kids from that end of town are now going to Southover - it's quite far for a 4 or 5 year old to walk and not sure they can do it by themselves (maybe would be fine for 10-11 year olds). Plus a lot of other parents have had wobbles around Wallands over the past couple of years and have moved kids to Southover or Western Road.
ACT - how do you know they are Southover parents and not WR incidentally?
On 14 Dec 2018 at 11:13am A Person wrote:
You're right, Bystander: Southover has virtually doubled in size due to the closure of the Pells and also, I think, because Rodmell was closed this year.
The result, predictably given the distance that parents are now having to travel to drop their kids, is chaos at the beginning and the end of the day. If you live in the vicinity of the schools you'll know that it's quite impossible to park for at least half an hour before 3.30pm because parents arrive in vast 4x4s which they simply abandon all over the place while they wait for their kids to be let out. It's an irritant, but I don't know what's to be done beyond someone organising a system of school runs to at least reduce the number of vehicles.
I hadn't clocked the morning jams, but what ACT describes can't continue.
On 14 Dec 2018 at 4:13pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
@Bystander: I don't know that they aren't Western Road parents, just like I didn't know that both schools share an entrance, until I looked at a map just now! I was under the impression that the entrance for Western Road was by the Grange.
Apologies for ONLY blaming Southover parents and I extend that blame to Western Road parents too, and anyone else who thinks it's ok to completely block a road and a busy through route while they drop off their kids.
Imagine the outcry if LOGS parents did this and blocked the High Street?
On Nevill a few years ago, local parents had a "walking bus". Kids would be taken to the end of their road, and be met by other kids, supervised by a parent. Then at the next corner, they'd gather some more kids, and so on. I assume there was some kind of rota and that it wasn't totally random. 
Maybe they could park down near the tennis club and have a similar arrangement?
Or maybe the council could vary the parking scheme and issue permits allowing parents to park in residents' bays in that area for up to 20 minutes between 8.30 and 9, or whatever is most appropriate for school time?
I'd be interested to know if traffic caused by the increase in numbers was ever considered when they increased the school roll and closed other schools. I believe Malling school is much bigger than it used to be, and parking up there is horrendous (and they've now got Trumpton based there as well as the Bill, so presumably more cars).
Maybe ESCC should buy back the old Lewes New School buildings when it closes, and open a new school. They could call it The Pells school ...
On 14 Dec 2018 at 6:04pm A Person wrote:
ACT they already do park in the residents' bays, although in some cases calling it parking is a bit of a stretch. Very often the vehicles appear to be simply abandoned. As someone said, the lanes are narrow and there just aren't many places to stop when the residents' bays are occupied. As I said, if you live nearby you quickly learn to avoid the mum's rush because every inch of parking space (or even not parking space) is occupied by people waiting for the school day to finish.
I like the idea of a walking bus: the problem is that - as you said - when it's not blocked by parents' cars Southover High Street is busy and the drivers impatient (and often quite disinclined to observe the 20mph limit) with no safe crossings anywhere along its length. So getting a long line of children safely across that road would be quite a dangerous undertaking.
I don't suppose for a second that anyone considered the traffic problems of doubling the size of Southover.
On 14 Dec 2018 at 10:17pm Bystander wrote:
I don't think ESCC can take those sorts of factors into account when they close a school. It's basically a "computer says no" funding formula run by central government. Local councils don't have any decision making power as far as I can see.
"Southover High Street is busy and the drivers impatient (and often quite disinclined to observe the 20mph limit)"
Sounds familiar re Prince Edwards Road & Wallands kids.