Falkirk school janitors 'could be asked to issue fines to parents parking badly'
School janitors could be asked to help issue fines to parents parking badly when they pick their children up, a councillor has suggested.
Dangerous parking at drop-off and pick-up times has been raised repeatedly with Falkirk Council's education service by concerned school staff, parents and local councillors and £200,000 for improvements was agreed in this year's capital budget to help tackle the problem.
An external consultant was engaged to look at the problem in more detail and feedback forms were distributed to each of the council's 59 schools.
The council's engineering designers have also been involved in looking at what parking is available and if there are problems with things such as visibility and access.
A list of priorities has now been drawn up and recommendations made for schools, with both 'quick wins' and longer-term solutions being considered.
At a meeting of Falkirk Council's executive this week, members heard that members of the engineering design team will also meet soon with education staff to look at actions that would improve the situation.
The issue was discussed as part of the council's new road safety review, but was also raised in the discussion around new penalties for parking on pavements and at dropped kerbs.
The Conservative group leader, Baillie James Kerr, asked if janitorial staff could be involved in issuing fines when enforcement for pavement parking starts in August.
He said: "I know there would need to be discussions around job descriptions and with trade unions, but I'm sure if you asked every janitor in the local schools, they would like to help make it possible.
"I think it would only need to happen once or twice - if one of the janitors issues a ticket, it will stop.
"I know it's a long way off but would you consider it after consultation with education and HR?"
Engineering design manager Gary McGregor said he was "not sure this was a route the council could go down" as there are many issues involved but he agreed to raise the issue at the joint meeting between education and roads.
Councillor James Bundy, asked if parents who were actually in their cars with the engine idling could be fined under the new powers.
Officers said that while this would be enforceable they are currently looking at lots of other options that will hopefully help.
SNP economic development spokesperson, Cllr Paul Garner, said the review, with a £200,000 budget would "increase road safety around schools, hopefully, a great deal".
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