With the new school term fast approaching the Junior School (the one behind The Green) has been leading an initiative to reduce the amount of vehicles driving up the side of The Green at drop-off and pick-up time. The mix of young children, parents, scooters, bicycles, prams, pushchairs all using this section of road where vehicles end up having to do reversing manoeuvres makes a hazardous combination. And then there’s the potholes.

This has been a perennial problem in the village for years, with many of the older generation commenting that it was the same in their time, however there is a determination to tackle this at the school.

There is no single solution to this and so there are a number of strands to the initiative and it is an ongoing concern with more ideas in the pipeline.

The most publicly visible strand of the initiative is to put a legal restriction on traffic using the road up to the school. This will be in operation for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Overwhelming support was in evidence for this from both parents, residents, the police and businesses including those who came along to the June Histon & Impington Parish Council meeting.

Although we would still encourage avoiding these times, exceptions will be in place for vehicles who have legitimate reasons for accessing properties, including public service and emergency vehicles and those visiting the school – but NOT just to perform a school drop off. The legally enforceable Traffic Restriction Order (TRO) is hoped to be in place for the new term on a trial basis.

Other strands include encouraging the use of feet and bicycles to get to school, identifying available places to park or stop within 5 minutes walk of the school, gaining permission from businesses with available unneeded parking and producing a leaflet to explain these steps to new and existing parents. Finally addressing the poor state of the road has been raised with the County Council who are heavily involved in the project.