Brisbane City Council parking inspectors to target 17 school zones for illegal parking

AN “army” of Brisbane City Council parking inspectors will target illegal parking outside local schools this term. Check the list of 17 zones.

Brisbane City Council will target 17 school zones in a crackdown on illegal parking. Picture: File

AN “army” of Brisbane City Council parking inspectors will target illegal parking outside local schools this term, amid an ongoing dispute with the State Government over the construction and maintenance of school drop-off zones.

P & C groups say the disagreement which has dragged on for more than two years is putting young lives at risk.

Scroll down to see the list

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk launched the council’s safer schools campaign yesterday, announcing council staff would target 17 schools to crackdown on illegal parking during peak drop off and pick up times.

“We’ve got an army of officers and they are highly-visible cars to make sure there is a clear presence around the schools,” Cr Quirk said.

Cr Quirk said the state and council worked together to provide necessary parking infrastructure around schools.

“It’s primarily a state responsibility but council have participated, we have made improvements and there have been a number of traffic management improvements we have made across the city,” he said.

Since 1997 councils have been responsible for designing, costing and building drop-off zones which are annexed from school land, with funding shared with the State Government.

In 2014 BCC sought to return ownership of 45 Brisbane drop-off zones to the state.

P & Cs Queensland CEO Kevan Goodworth said politics needed to be put aside where child safety was concerned.

“When questions of children’s safety are involved it becomes really significant,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Education Minister Kate Jones welcomed the council’s safer schools campaign but said councils “are responsible for traffic and road safety on local roads”.

“It is disappointing that Brisbane City Council is attempting to push their responsibilities around school drop off and pick up zones to the state,” the spokeswoman said.

“The Queensland Government supports BCC and other local government authorities to construct school transport infrastructure, through the Department of Transport and Main Roads’ Transport Infrastructure Development Scheme.”

BCC Infrastructure chairman Amanda Cooper said the council was committed to funding half of the design and construction costs for a drop-and-go zone at MacGregor State School.

She said responsibility for the project lay with the State Government but that Cr Quirk had written to the government offering “one-off support to get this project off the ground”.

“Last year I made several attempts to meet with the Minister about Macgregor State School, but unfortunately, the soonest the State Government was prepared to meet on this issue was this year,” Cr Cooper said.

Ms Jones will meet with Cr Cooper in March.

2017 Term 1 priority school enforcement program

1. Grand Avenue State School, Cnr Grand Ave and Centennial Way, Forest Lake

2. Forest Lake Primary, Kauri Pl, Forest Lake

3. St Ignatius School, 46 Grove St, Toowong

4. Brisbane Boys College, Kensington Tce, Toowong

5. Mansfield State School, 174 Ham Rd, Mansfield

6. Mansfield State High School, Cnr Broadwater and Ham Rds, Mansfield

7. Loreto College, 415 Cavendish Rd, Coorparoo

8. Coorparoo State School, 327 Old Cleveland Rd, Coorparoo

9. Villanova College, 24 Sixth Ave, Coorparoo

10. Mt Gravatt State High, School 42 Loreburn St, Mt Gravatt

11. St Agnes Catholic Primary, 29 Tudor St, Mt Gravatt

12. Corinda State High School, 46 Pratten St, Corinda

13. Wondall Heights State School, 260 Wondall Rd, Manly West

14. Runcorn State School, 646 Beenleigh Rd, Sunnybank

15. Our Lady of Lourdes, Shearwin St, Sunnybank

16. Wellers Hill State School, 190 Toohey Rd, Tarragindi

17. Somerville House, 17 Graham St, South Brisbane