Councillor G Byrne in his capacity as Chair of the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee introduced the item and stated that he had no doubt that cabinet would welcome the report. Back in June 2025 the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommended parking outside schools and S106 money as its projects. Thanks to the determination of the task and finish group there is now a way forward.

Councillor Massey as Chair of the Task and Finish group introduced the report.

“I am very pleased as Chair to present the School Parking Task and Finish Group report for cabinet this evening.

The group bought together following a motion at full council October 2023 and with cross-party member support, the T&G group in addition with internal meetings with officers have also had meetings with various different stakeholders.

We felt it was important to get various views and experiences from a good selection of the Thurrock community. This included a Q&A session with the Thurrock’s Youth Cabinet who got to express as young people, their experiences while attending school.

Excellent feedback from Thurrock Council’s road safety lead who shared in a lot of detail her role and good & bad practices she has witnessed. Members also took the time to attend various local schools at school movement times to see these practices both good and bad.

A joint meeting was also held with colleagues on People O&S Childhood Obesity Task and Finish Group, many issues and ideas were discussed including the importance of exercise like walking to school with the tackling of childhood obesity through various initiatives.

An online and paper public survey/questionnaire was carried out, this has been a great aid to the members and the various teams involved with toolkit. This helped ensure the work was led by residents and in a short period of time we had a really good response in terms of numbers and responses. more details on results can be found in appendix 2 of the agenda pack.  

We feel the toolkit at appendix 1 of the agenda pack has been a really useful exercise and gives many options going forward where we can make a difference on this important issue for residents, school staff and pupils. Nav and his team have done an excellent job highlighting different ways bad parking can be challenged with the potential financial side it may occur. Which as members we fully appreciate and recognise how important this is to the authority.

Some of the no cost options are campaigns around car sharing, car parking charter putting the onus on the parents on how to park. Secondly, we have drop of zones which could be implemented.

Lower costs options would overlap the people Task & Finish group would be the park and stride, walking bus & learning to ride a bike. This option would help get cars away from the schools all while giving the child exercise while walking to school.

Also based on public and stakeholder feedback are the inclusion of hard measures, which although can be costly are options which now have a structure and indicative costs. This includes measures such as restricting the road for opening and leaving school for a certain period normally 30-45 mins. More options are detailed in the appendix.

We quickly realised that there is not a ‘silver bullet’ which would solve every schools issues across the Borough, the T&F group based on the work we have undertaken have seen that many schools have unique and legacy issues, but if approved the toolkit will be trialled and monitored to asses the change and effect.

I just want to finish by saying a thank you to all the members who have contributed, the residents for engaging so effectively and Nav, Lucy and the rest of the Officer teams who have done some really good work which can make a big difference going forward.”

 Councillor J Kent disclosed a non-pecuniary interest as he lives opposite a secondary school. He stressed that he wants those people who live around schools to have a good quality of life and also for these areas to be safe for children.

Councillor Morris-Cook stated that she understands there are several measures that have been identified that can help with this problem and queried how priority is being looked at and all schools having an active travel plan. Councillor Morris-Cook stated that making some roads one-way would help as children would only have to look one way when crossing.

Councillor Muldowney queried who the toolkit was aimed at. Councillor Muldowney also queried how members feedback to residents as a lot of residents took part in the survey and there is a need to close the communication loop.

Councillor Massey responded that they have the data and therefore priority will be easy to work out. Councillor Massey stressed that it was really important that active travel plans are in place. Councillor Massey commented that one-way streets had really worked in his ward. If any planning expansion plan comes in this will be considered. Councillor Massey stated that he would like to see the report be shared with all schools, officers and it put on the council’s website and socials.

Councillor Hartstean welcomed the report and stated that as Portfolio Holder for education she would help in any way she could.

Councillor Hooper also declared a non-pecuniary interest as he also lives near a school. He encouraged schools to put together a plan using the toolkit.

Councillor Hooper referenced the Thurrock Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan and stated that hopefully as these are developed it will encourage children to walk or ride to school instead of travelling by car.

Councillor Massey stated that one of the issues is people are dropping their kids off at school by car and then travelling straight to their place of work.

Councillor L Watson stated that it was the best report she had seen come out of a task and finish group.

Councillor J Kent added a recommendation that officers are to bring a report back to cabinet with an action to show how it is being rolled out. This was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED:

2.1 Cabinet endorsed the recommendations in the report

2.2 Officers are to bring back a report to cabinet with an action plan to show how it is being rolled out