School Run Safety Campaign meeting in Eynsford

Last night I chaired an Open Forum meeting set up by the School Run Safety Campaign (SRSC), which brings together groups and individuals concerned to tackle the traffic and parking problems around Anthony Roper Primary School. You can find the SRSC's Facebook page here. I serve on it, along with parents with children at the school, the school head Lynda Newton, Parish Councillors and Eynsford's District Councillor Michael Horwood.

The purpose of the meeting was to run through the efforts of recent years to tackle the problems - including the crossing near the school and the relatively modest additions of yellow lines - to report the results of the recent SRSC survey of parents and to look at options for the future. Those attending were mostly parents of children at the school. Encouragingly, there was a good geographical spread; many were from Eynsford and Farningham (64% of children at the school come from the two villages) but others were from Swanley, West Kingsdown and other areas further from the school. A lot of ideas were discussed, including addressing the most difficult parts of the route down from Farningham to the school, the merits of different sites for yellow lines and the best ways to make use of alternative parking sites in the village.

I've already heard from parents who attended the meeting that it was good to know that the problem has not been ignored and is being seriously addressed. But the next step is to draw on the work already done and on last night's discussion to make some decisions. The SRSC is likely to bring forward some suggested priorities to parents and residents soon. In the meantime, and especially if you weren't able to attend the meeting, please post them on SRSC's Facebook page or email them to eynsfordschoolrun@yahoo.co.uk