School Street Zone

Kitsy12

canaldumidi said:

Surely it's better than the alternative: the street jam-packed with cars for an hour 2ce a day as parents drop off their kids?

I guess this is exactly what I am trying to gauge- how is this viewed by other people. 

All opinions are helpful, thank you. 

Slithery

I would view this property as much better than an identical one without the restriction having previously lived next to a school where pick up and drop off was always chaos.

onylon

I wouldn't consider a house with this restriction. The gig economy means delivery people and taxis will often use their personal car and not a liveried vehicle. I'm sure it's possible to work around the restriction but it would cause me significant day to day irritation and additional expense.

I also wouldn't be keen to buy that close to a school. The kids aren't so bad but you will have the pointy elbowed parents to deal with.

Section62

Mahsroh said:

Only slight thing to bear in mind is how it might impact deliveries or tradesmen.... simple things like a furniture or electronic purchase delivery where they helpfully (sarcasm) give you a 12 hr slot... then rock up just at the time when the school is finishing for the day and can't deliver..... In the scheme of things I'd say that's fairly minor though. 

I'd say it was a pretty big deal.  Up to 3 hours a day where traders/deliveries potentially can't get to you, the hassle of having to give delivery instructions (which get ignored) saying access isn't possible at those times.

I'd look elsewhere.

Also, the council who wrote the quoted text should know it can't issue a "fine".  If they can't get that right I wouldn't trust them not to "fine" vehicles that are exempt.

Kitsy12

onylon said:

I wouldn't consider a house with this restriction. The gig economy means delivery people and taxis will often use their personal car and not a liveried vehicle. I'm sure it's possible to work around the restriction but it would cause me significant day to day irritation and additional expense.

I also wouldn't be keen to buy that close to a school. The kids aren't so bad but you will have the pointy elbowed parents to deal with.

Thank you, the school part we have made peace with. It is this second part, although it seems we can get an exception on any delivery vehicle (liveried or otherwise) as long as we register them before the end of the day that they entered the zone. Which is useful also. 

4justice2

I live in a street with a primary school at the end. Please don't think having a drive will mean you don't get problems.
Issues we get: inconsiderate parking across drives; volume of traffic in the street; three point turns done across pavements.......
If a scheme like that was offered in my street I'd welcome it!

Section62

Kitsy12 said:

...although it seems we can get an exception on any delivery vehicle (liveried or otherwise) as long as we register them before the end of the day that they entered the zone. Which is useful also. 

Likely only to be useful if you know the registration mark of the vehicle, and assuming the driver hasn't seen the signs and driven off without making the delivery.  It also raises the question about who (ultimately) pays the "fine" if the resident forgets to register the vehicle in time.

As things stand we have a near universal postal and delivery service in the UK - there are some exceptions where couriers already charge extra to cover the costs (e.g. for tolls) of delivering to 'difficult' places.

With the growth of road usage charges (e.g. low/zero-emission zones, restricted streets, etc) I think it will become more common for delivery services to impose surcharges to deliver to places of 'difficulty'.  At the moment is is something they largely ignore and pass the costs on to all customers instead.

Some people will welcome the advantages these zones come with, others will baulk at the additional costs that start to accumulate.  No two people will share exactly the same view on this issue.

Section62

4justice2 said:

I live in a street with a primary school at the end. Please don't think having a drive will mean you don't get problems.
Issues we get: inconsiderate parking across drives; volume of traffic in the street; three point turns done across pavements.......
If a scheme like that was offered in my street I'd welcome it!

Turning this around, would you still buy a house on that street, knowing what you do now, or would you look for a house on a street with no school nearby?

gingercordial

Section62 said:

4justice2 said:

I live in a street with a primary school at the end. Please don't think having a drive will mean you don't get problems.
Issues we get: inconsiderate parking across drives; volume of traffic in the street; three point turns done across pavements.......
If a scheme like that was offered in my street I'd welcome it!

Turning this around, would you still buy a house on that street, knowing what you do now, or would you look for a house on a street with no school nearby?

Your question wasn't directed at me but I am in the same position as 4justice2 and so I'll give you my answer, which would be yes I would still have bought it on the basis that this house was the most suitable one available for purchase at the time. 

Parents parking across our drive do annoy me considerably when I see them do it as I'm sitting working from home near the window, but at least 99% of the time you know they will be gone again in five minutes so I try to remain unbothered but it does wind me up that they can't just pay attention and shift it forward a couple of feet to not overhang - they just don't care!  As I type I'm looking out at the other kind of bad parker - a parent has arrived early and is currently sitting in the car waiting for the bell, and she's parked right across the two spaces available along the kerb rather than pulling forward or back to only take up one.  

Luckily I am usually walking and my husband is a shift worker so doesn't usually need to come or go with the car at school run times. 

What is actually worse is trying to get out of our road on foot at the "wrong" time in the morning, when you are a salmon against the tide of kids walking to school.  The kids are always distracted, running to meet their friends or talking to each other, so walk right into you.  Most of them are accompanied by a whole entourage of parents, siblings, buggies, dogs, scooters etc so the entire pavement is taken up and the delightful parents glare at your audacity for wanting to pass by the other way.

A school street would therefore probably just add to my annoyance at the pedestrians, whilst also adding frustrations about deliveries and tradesmen.

4justice2

Section62 said:

4justice2 said:

I live in a street with a primary school at the end. Please don't think having a drive will mean you don't get problems.
Issues we get: inconsiderate parking across drives; volume of traffic in the street; three point turns done across pavements.......
If a scheme like that was offered in my street I'd welcome it!

Turning this around, would you still buy a house on that street, knowing what you do now, or would you look for a house on a street with no school nearby?

That's difficult question! Love the location, convenient for everything. If I was buying again, I'd avoid any street with a school on it.