Parents of children attending a Dartington primary school are up in arms after being told they would have to start paying to park during the school run.
Parents recently received an email from the Dartington Church of England Academy, saying that as of June 1 Dartington Trust, which owns the nearby land, would no longer be honouring free parking “for parents dropping off in the mornings and collecting in the afternoons”.
It said cars would be subject to new parking tariffs, ranging from £2 per hour to £6 for a day.
As an option, parents could become Dartington Trust members, which would entitle them to a ‘reduced’ annual parking fee of £55.
Derek Bowman, who takes his young child to the school, rejected the offer, reflecting parents’ mood.
He said: “I don’t want to be forced to become a member just to drop off my child at school.”
He added that his six-year-old was too small to walk into the school alone and needed parental supervision to cross the road.
Parent Nicky Jillard said she would be able to afford to pay but warned that a lot of the other parents would find it harder and not be able to drop their kids off at the school.
Totnes Cllr Jacqi Hodgson pointed out that parents from another nearby school would also be impacted by the charges, adding: “I negotiated the 20-minute drop off morning and night for parents, so why have they dropped it now? Hitting the parents just isn’t fair.”
Cllr Hodgson said she would be meeting Dartington Trust’s interim CEO, Robert Feder, to discuss the issue this week, but in a late twist, Stephen Benzikie, for Dartington Trust, insisted that parents would not be charged.
Speaking to this paper, he said: “There’s no cause for alarm. Cider Press visitors, including school parents and caregivers, continue to get 30 minutes of parking free.
“The external communication made an important omission about the free period and sending it in that form was the result of an internal misunderstanding. This will have been confusing for schools. We apologise for the unnecessary concern caused.”