Carpark at Oakleigh South Primary School could close
Neighbours living near a Oakleigh primary school already have to put up with parents parking across their driveways. Now, about 200 more cars could spill onto streets if the Education Department decides to close an informal carpark.
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The potential closure of a carpark used to pick-up and drop-off children at a Monash primary school has neighbours and parents fearing it could lead to a serious accident.
Oakleigh South Primary School has been using a block of land at the southern end of the school off Riley St to cater for about 200 cars in the peak morning and afternoon periods.
The school has grown from about 300 students to about 1000 in the past decade.
School principal Ron Cantlon said they had allowed parents to park on school grounds “because of congestion and danger … for some time”.
But he said the Education Department had since “expressed a concern” about it and looked at options to relieve it.
“To this stage they do not agree with parking for up to 200 cars,” Mr Cantlon said.
“The department has commissioned another report and residents are anxiously awaiting the outcome of that.”
Mr Cantlon said the school was “continually contacted by local residents about parking on the streets”.
Monash councillor Stuart James said the department’s latest proposal involved reducing the carpark to 16 or 32 spaces, closing the rest of the site to vehicles.
“This will not do anything to relieve the safety of the children around the school nor the congestion for the residents, but rather make these worse,” he said.
“Residents have been up in arms with mums and dads parking across driveways and kerbs, so if the carpark is removed, that’s pretty much 200 cars emptied out onto local roads and pissing everyone off.
“If this carpark is removed, make no mistake, this will cause absolute mayhem.”
Mother Shona Elford said the situation was “just a joke”.
“It’s a game of handball and we are in football season, but football season is nearly over,” she said.
“Unfortunately someone’s going to get hurt. There’s near misses every single day.”
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Mrs Elford said it had become worse during the five years her children have attended the school.
“It’s horrible,” she said.
“And the amount of kids on their own.
“It’s a danger because everyone is in so much of a hurry.
“I just wish someone would do something about it.”
A review of the informal carpark from last year recommended that the carpark either be formalised to improve safety and efficiency, or to simply upgrade the existing exit.
Monash Council will write to Education Minister James Merlino and the Education Department outlining its concern at the potential carpark closure, while supporting a formalised carpark with up to 200 spots.
An Education Department spokeswoman, who refused to be named, said an independent traffic consulting firm had been tasked with finding alternatives for parking and traffic flow with the new report due in August.
“The department will continue to work closely with the school to ensure safety and promote traffic flow during these times,” she said.