The Parish Council is very concerned about the safety of children and parents during the chaotic times when parents are dropping off and collecting school pupils during the school day. Cars are parked randomly (and in many cases, inappropriately) around the school entrance, at the junction by the Haughmond, on the pavements, currently ruining the grass at the Lychgate green, in the area designated for the school bus and in the field access close to the shop. Upton Magna is a rural parish and, therefore, large farm vehicles can often travel through the village at the same time, adding to the danger. In addition to this, the Haughmond is located within 20 metres of the school, and, being a popular establishment, often has more cars than can fit in their car park, something that adds to the chaotic parking on verges and astride pavements. Finally, access to private properties close to the school is often affected and this has resulted in complaints from parishioners.

The Parish Council has held these concerns for many years and, in 2015, itself attempted to obtain permission to construct a car park, something that was supported at the time by the school and the Sundorne Castle Estate. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful. 

The Parish Council understands the school is actively pursuing the provision of a car park for parents and staff to use and would like to add its full support to this endeavour as we believe the current levels of road safety (due to excessive vehicles at these peak times) is at an all-time low. The contents of a recent letter to the school giving our support (and detailing a recent incident as an example) can be viewed below.

The Parish Council also understands that, at the beginning of the school year, the amount of school children increased by a huge 35% and with that, comes the huge increase in parent vehicles. We believe at this point in time, unless a parking solution is implemented, Shropshire Council should place a hold on the headcount of children attending the school.   We believe if this situation continues, an accident is imminent and this should not be allowed to happen. We have written to Shropshire Council to express this belief, and the contents of our letter to them can also be viewed below.

Please let the Parish Council have your views by emailing [email protected].

LETTER TO ST. LUCIA'S PRIMARY SCHOOL

The Parish Council has been made aware of a number of recent incidents where those parents dropping off and collecting pupils at the school, have parked very inconsiderately at those times, and, when challenged by the resident affected, have become verbally abusive.

On one recent occasion, a parent actually parked on a resident's drive and, when asked to move their car, subjected the resident to such a strong level of abuse that another parent stepped in to try to assist in calming the offender down. This incident was disturbing enough to merit reporting to the police.

I am sure you will agree that the situation is now unacceptable and we wish to reiterate our strong support for the provision of a car park as soon as possible.

LETTER TO SHROPSHIRE COUNCIL

For some years now, residents of the Parish of Upton Magna have experienced regular traffic and parking problems when parents/drivers are dropping off and collecting children from St. Lucia's Primary School.

This has worsened since the start of the academic year, with residents now receiving abuse when challenging those who have parked inconsiderately. (One of the latest incidents was serious enough to be reported to the police). The school (in conjunction with the Sundorne Castle Estate), is looking to provide a car park on land at the rear of the school but this is taking considerable time to organise with no visible progress or indication of an estimated time of completion.

The Parish Council is aware that pupil numbers have increased by 35% since September 2025 and with that comes an understandable increase in road traffic issues, which, ultimately, heightens risks to children as well. It is not an acceptable situation.

We would therefore ask that, until the car park is in place, the pupil numbers at the school do not increase any further.