A parking lesson

MARNEBEK School Cranbourne is feeling the squeeze of car parking problems at the school.
School president Wayne Witham said the lack of car parks was forcing parents and staff to spill out onto surrounding roads and vacant land, causing safety concerns.
At a council meeting last month, councillors voted unanimously for council officers to meet with the school to discuss ongoing and increasing concerns over student and parent safety relating to car parking issues.
Mayor Amanda Stapledon, who raised the motion, said the car parking available was inadequate.
“They are overflowing every day onto roads and vacant land across the road,” she said.
“The other day I observed a mother, trying to cross the road to the school with a baby in one arm and another child with autism in the other.
“It’s just not safe.”
Mr Witham said with Marnebek being a special school, it made the situation worse.
“The majority of the students come by bus and have a carer on their with them,” he said.
“However some children can’t catch the bus due to medical conditions and have to be driven by their parents or carer.
“It’s not a normal school drop-off though, where a mum pulls up and the kids jump out and run off.
“Parents have to park and take their children in.
“But that’s where the problems start. Where do they stop and park?”
Mr Witham said the situation had been made worse with the opening of their new campus in The Hunt Club this year.
“We now have additional bus movements from the main campus to the new campus,” he said.
“We used to have parents come into the car park, double park and take their children in.
“But we’ve had to put a stop to that. We can’t have parents and buses trying to move at the same time in a small car park.”
Parents have been parking in council owned land opposite the school, but Mr Witham said that could not be made into a car park as the land was earmarked for development as part of a new Cranbourne railway station.
He said another option would be land next to the school, owned by Melbourne Water, where an easement is located.
The council will work with the school to help come up with a solution.