Residents in several parts of Kent say enough is enough when it comes to parking chaos outside schools.

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How Greenway looks at school pick up time

With this in mind, we consider if now is the time to introduce American style-drop off systems outside schools to put a stop to traffic chaos once and for all.

It comes after neighbours in Greenway, Barming came to the end of their tether with parents blocking driveways and using a green as a car park during the afternoon school run.

From 2.30pm every weekday, the roads nearby become blocked by parents picking up their children from West Borough Primary School.

The ongoing issue has become such a problem, neighbours joined forces one afternoon to block access to the green to stop cars mounting the kerb and spoiling the grass their children play on.

Part of the driving force behind the action was Della Gash who has lived in Greenway for more than 20 years and has seen the parking get progressively worse.

The 36-year-old said: "A child nearly got run over recently and we just thought enough is enough. This is the third or fourth near miss I can think of and still nothing has changed.

"When we put up the barrier on the corner it was funny to see some people still trying to access it but a lot of them ended up parking elsewhere and walking up.

"On that Friday it was so nice to see all the kids run on the green but unfortunately we can't man it every single day so on the Monday it was a car park again.

"We have to say to the kids they can’t play until all the cars have gone and it shouldn’t be that way, the green has always been there for the kids.

"Will it take a tragedy for something to actually happen?"

Resident Chloe Addison, 21, also volunteered her time the day the access was closed off.

She said: "When we went out and told people to not park there, instead they pulled up on the edge or went elsewhere entirely and it was much better.

"The mornings are not as bad because it's staggered but in the afternoons you get people hanging around from half past two for a three o'clock finish which is really early just so they can get a space.

"When we go out to work and come back at pick up time we have nowhere to park at all."

Garry Gibbon, 56, who lives next door said: "Sometimes I avoid coming home at that time because of how bad it is.

"The bins didn't get emptied last week because the bin men arrived at a slightly different time and they couldn't get around. We had to wait a whole fortnight.

"When you live near a school you understand there will always be a bit of trouble but this is just getting ridiculous."

The land is owned by Golding Homes which says it is working with residents and Maidstone Borough Council to try and find a solution that suits everybody's needs.

When asked how they would like to see the problem resolved, some residents suggested extending an existing layby to create more parking spaces for parents and residents to benefit from. Others liked the idea of putting up a small barrier or fence, or introducing part-time yellow lines.

Cllr Ashleigh Kimmance who surveyed residents in March about the changes said an America-style system is an option that is on the cards.

The councillor for Heath ward, which extends to this area of Barming, said: "We have given Golding Homes the results of that survey and we are just waiting to see what solution they come up with.

"There were about four or five different options discussed but one of them was an American-style drop-off.

"It's like a doughnut system where you drive in, drop off the kids, and then go straight away.

"There will be somebody there to collect the children and they will then walk the last part of their journey to the school gate.

"It's a case of waiting to see at this stage because this is a system that would need to be funded and we can't just pluck it out of thin air.

"Personally I think it's a great idea because you won't have people parking outside the school and cars could go in and out without the disruption.

Using time slots the system could also be applied to picking children up.

When asked where to put it, Cllr Kimmance said one of the options would be transforming a KCC car park at the Mid Kent College Maidstone Campus near Hadlow Road.

He added: "The car park sits right next to West Borough School so that could be the drop-off point so children could walk through.

"We would also need to build a footpath but it's an option.

"People work and need to head straight off after dropping the kids off so I think we should look at systems like this when we consider new schools in the future."

Assistant Director of Property for Golding Homes, Steve Stratford said: “We understand the frustrations of customers caused by irresponsible parking during school drop off and pick up times.

"We are committed to working with the school and Maidstone Borough Council on resolving this issue, we will be talking to our customers further about possible solutions to try and prevent parking on the green area.

"We are looking at options which include introducing a wild flower planting area or low barrier which will restrict access to vehicles.”

On occasions, the head teacher Ashley Crittenden has been forced to go on parking patrols to manage the situation.

She said: “The school already operates a staggered drop-off system in the morning. Parents and carers have the choice of two gates to drop their children at before school starts and drivers tend to use one gate while walking families use the other.

"For safeguarding reasons, it is not possible to implement this kind of system at the end of the day and this is when residents are experiencing problems due to inconsiderate parking by a small minority of our parents and carers.

“Children under 10 must be handed over to a recognised adult by a member of our staff, at their classroom, and if that adult has driven to the school they will need to park their vehicle in the vicinity of the school site and walk inside.

"We have sympathy with residents in the area who are inconvenienced by poor parking and we encourage families to walk to and from school if they can, however, we recognise this is not always possible if they live a distance from the school or they incorporate the school run into their journeys to and from work or their other children’s schools.

“We continue to remind those parents and carers who need to drive to and from school to park considerately and responsibly.”

The issue is not isolated to Barming. In Rochester, some parents parking near two private schools have made life such a misery for one resident he is looking to move.

Simon Johnson says he has been faced with a barrage of abuse and offensive gestures from drivers who drop off and pick up from St Andrew's and King's schools.

Kyle Jones, the managing director of KD Traffic, a specialist traffic management firm based in Gillingham says while drive-through systems are a good idea on paper, they would be tricky to implement for the majority of schools in Kent which are in tight residential areas.

He said: "In America the schools are built with the system already in place but trying to accommodate it in existing schools over here will be tricky because the roads just aren't wide enough.

"Most schools are in residential areas so it just isn't feasible.

"But that being said, when it comes to building new schools I think it should be something that's taken into consideration from now on in Kent because I live near Mascalls Academy in Rainham and twice a day it is a nightmare."

A school elsewhere in the country which paved over a grassed area to create a drop-off lane is Fortis Academy in Birmingham.

The school is a major route for buses and commuters.

Parents would frequently block the road by cutting across traffic, so in 2018 it submitted plans for a US-style bus and car drop off.

The new layby, which features separate lanes for cars and buses, opened in 2020 and was designed to reflect schools in American towns where few children walk to school.

On a smaller scale, Kent school Offham Primary already employs a similar system.

At a meeting yesterday, County Hall transport bosses committed to improve the safety of roads for drivers across Kent.

This comes alongside an ambitious target of halving human fatalities caused by driving accidents by 2050.

One of the ideas considered in achieving this target was redesigning streets around schools to make them safer.

Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone