PARENTS are being asked not to park at the front entrance to Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School to help keep pupils safe.

The plea comes from headteacher Denis Oliver after the school failed to persuade highways bosses to ban parking at the front of the Selkirk Drive school.

The school called for the ban in its response to a consultation from Cheshire East Council on proposed parking and waiting restrictions on Selkirk Drive and Portree Drive aimed at tackling visibility hazards caused by parked cars.

“We are disappointed that they [Cheshire East Council] do not appear to have listened to our request to extend the proposed restrictions to cover the front of the school premises,” said Mr Oliver.

“Delays are often caused by vehicles parked or waiting directly in front of the school, making it difficult or sometimes impossible for buses to get down the road safely.

“We believe it to be short-sighted of those decision-makers not to have taken the opportunity to make the front of school safer.”

Mr Oliver is asking parents consider the safety of pupils and convenience of other road users by not waiting or parking on the road at the school’s front entrance between 8am and 9am and 3pm to 4pm.

He added: “Waiting or parking in the yellow zone creates a hazard. No matter how many parking spaces we have or make in the school, it won’t change the fact that some people insist on parking in the worse possible space.”

A Cheshire East highways officer said in a letter to the school: “Taking into account concerns about the effect displaced vehicles would have on neighbouring areas and nearby residents, the decision was made to introduce the scheme, with amendments to the extents of the proposed restrictions, on the west side of Selkirk Drive.

“The reduced extents will still ensure that parked vehicles are removed from the immediate vicinity of the junction, and allow room for drivers exiting Portree Drive to wait if faced with oncoming traffic, but will still allow some parking along the west side of Selkirk Drive, reducing the number of vehicles displaced into neighbouring areas.”