Residents raise issues of parking and speed on Boucher Ave, Te Puke

Fairhaven School principal Paul Hunt says parking around the school is a long standing issue.

Traffic - both moving and stationary - was the subject of two presentations to last week's Te Puke Community Board meeting.

Boucher Ave resident Sally Bentley told the meeting she had lived close to Fairhaven School for 20 years.

She said there had been confrontations between residents and people parking while they drop off or collect children.

''Driveways are being blocked, people are being rude and there is illegal parking,'' she said.

During the last school holidays some of the yellow lines had been removed ''with no consultation with residents''.

She said there was one occasion recently when someone parked across her driveway for about 15 minutes.

Parked cars also made it difficult to safely drive out of driveways or cross the road by obscuring visibility.

Parking was also causing damage to the berm outside houses, damaging concrete and grass.

''It makes it difficult to mow because it's muddy in winter and dry and full of dust and rocks in summer.

She suggested a designated drop-off and collection point within the school grounds.

Community board chairman Richard Crawford said the board was aware of the situation and residents' concerns.

Fairhaven School principal Paul Hunt told Te Puke Times parking around the school at drop-off and pick-up time was a long standing issue.

''We've let our parents know about the different places they can park and so on, but it comes down, unfortunately, to fundamentally there's not enough parking, especially when you look at today's society where a large number of children come by car.''

He said the problem was worse at the end of the school day when everyone leaves at the same time.

''There are certain parks a bit further away but they are not as convenient. The road is quite narrow and that also adds to some of the issues around that.''

He said there may have been some changes to yellow lines recently, and he believed that related to making them compliant. He said lines were not removed at the school's request.

He said parents are reminded to be courteous and not to park across driveways.

At the community board meeting another resident, Tara Jones, raised the issue of speed on the same section of Boucher Avenue.

''Speed is an issue on the whole street,'' she said, adding there had been three major crashes and two minor crashes.

She said she and her husband are often woken up by speeding cars and that sometimes vehicles going past ''rattle the house''.

''There needs to be something done before somebody dies.

She suggested flashing lights or warning signs as there was nothing to warn motorists of the first corner after No 2 Rd became Boucher Ave.

''People are not doing 50km/h they are doing more like 80km/h,'' she said.