Cartoon child-size cut-outs will be appearing to make them think about their illegal and inconsiderate parking

Parking buddies will be popping up outside a city school as part of a pilot scheme aimed at making parents think more carefully about how they drop off and pick up their children. Cartoon child-size cut-outs will be appearing in various positions outside Holy Cross Catholic Primary School in Beaumont Road from Monday.

The aim of the parking buddies is to give drivers a reminder of where children might walk or cross as part of a new Safer Journeys to School initiative being developed by Plymouth City Council’s Road Safety Team. The campaign has been created in an effort to respond to an increasing number of safety concerns near the gates of some Plymouth schools caused by, amongst other factors, illegal and inconsiderate parking at drop-off and pick-up times.

As well as the kiddy cut-outs, banners will be displayed and real live children from the school will be data crunching as traffic counters over a number of weeks to record any issues. The campaign aims to reduce the volume of traffic and parked cars in the vicinity of the school gate at drop-off and pick-up times.

Read More - Demolition work signals start of £2bn rebuild of Devonport Dockyard

Parking enforcement officers will be on patrol in the coming weeks nearby the school gate. It is hoped however, that the safety messages shared with parents during the campaign will be enough to stop inconsiderate and illegal parking near the school gates.

Headteacher Finola Gill said: “While we’d love to see all our children walk to school, we know that for some parents this is not possible, so we are working with the Council’s Road Safety Team to see if we can make the start and end of the school day safer.

“We hope that this different approach with eye catching reminders and clear information about where our parents can park will be more helpful and lead to a safer environment. We look forward to working with the team and the children to make our school environment a safe one for everyone.’’

The pilot scheme will be evaluated and if successful, other schools facing similar issues will be able to run the campaign using resources from the Road Safety Team.