Laverstock & Ford Parish Council

Since that day sometime in the sixties when a local planner said “Wouldn’t it be a good to build three secondary schools next to each other, right by that primary school in Laverstock”, local residents have been dealing with the problems that the arrival and departure of 2,000 students through a small village causes.

For the last year a group involving senior leaders from the schools, the Parish Council, Wiltshire Council and local residents have been meeting to try and address some of the issues. Much of our work has been focusing on long term solutions aiming to encourage active modes of travel other than the car, but we have also been looking at the parking regulations along Church Road and neighbouring streets.

At a public meeting organised by the Parish Council last year, there was considerable support for increased restrictions to try and prevent some of the worst parking, although there was also concern about the possibility of too many restrictions and lines on the road making our village feel too suburban. Our local Wiltshire Highways Engineer has drawn up detailed plans for how restrictions could be used and we would like your feedback.

The proposal would introduce a controlled zone along Church Road from just before the start of Bishops Mead to the Green. The key changes would be:

• Along the whole zone there would be a no waiting restriction from 2-4pm meaning that cars would not be able to wait in the area, the main cause of poor traffic flow, pollution and dangerous driving.

• In areas where there are not existing markings, there would be a single yellow line to indicate the restriction, in primrose yellow, designed to be less visually intrusive. There would also be signs at the start and end of the zone explaining the timings of the restriction.

• There would be new double yellow lines at the entrances to Elm Close, the Bishopdown Path and Bishops Mead, protecting parking either on Church Road or just into these roads at any time.