New car park near Toll Bar will be completed after start of new school term (2024)

Work is underway on the construction of a 54-space car park opposite Waltham’s Toll Bar Academy.

Responding to concerns over safety, especially at the start and end of the school day, North East Lincolnshire Council is building the facility, which also includes a motorcycle bay and drop-off area. Charges will apply to park there, except during drop-off times when it will be free.

Once the car park is up and running, parking and stopping restrictions will be introduced along both sides of Station Road.

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Construction comes after years of campaigns to persuade drivers to park sensibly and not increase the risk to road users and pedestrians, particularly children going to and from Toll Bar Academy. Work started during the summer school break and is expected to be completed in the autumn. Planning permission was applied for in February and granted in June this year.

The land off Station Road is in council ownership – agreed as part of a section 106 agreement with developers of Wigmore Park at the time planning permission for the adjoining housing development was approved. A council spokesperson said: "When the car park is completed, it will be managed by North East Lincolnshire Council.

"It will be open from 7am until 6pm with the free short-time drop-off. Barriers will prevent evening and night-time entry, and outside of the free drop off times normal council parking charges will apply.

"Once the car park is open, parking and stopping restrictions will be introduced along both sides of Station Road to ensure drop-offs are made in the car park only and not – as now – along the main highway, with drivers often stopping on the grass verges either side.

"The plan includes landscaping to ensure the car park is shielded from the new homes nearest to the site, as well as considering some natural barriers between the car park and Station Road. EV charge points will also be put in as will height restrictions, safety barriers and bollards."

A spokesperson for Waltham Toll Bar Academy said: "The car park is a long-standing council scheme. It is liaising with the school on progress and we will communicate with parents / carers as and when we know more details. Our priority is the safety of our students, particularly around drop off and pick up times, and anything to improve this is to be welcomed."

Chairman of New Waltham Parish Council, Councillor Dinsdale Shaw, said: "Myself and the other residents of New Waltham can't wait to have this facility finished. A lot of people who drop off their children at Toll Bar and those who wait to pick them up, unfortunately aren't always considerate in their parking. We regularly get complaints from people about blocked drives, bad parking and requests for yellow lines etc. and concern over safety.

"We were hopeful this new car park and drop off zone would have been ready for the new school year and relieve many of the complaints and concerns. I know Toll Bar stand outside to support safe parking/dropping off and they were also looking forward to seeing this finished. We just hope now that it will be completed and open for use as soon as possible. I guess now it's a case of watch this 'car parking' space!"

Fellow parish councillor Roger Breed said: "We don't know yet where all the cars that park on the verge along Station Road are going to go. The plan is to extend the 'no verge parking' and make it a clearway."

He added: "When it comes to drop-off and collection times, it is going to be interesting because when someone comes to collect a child, do they know for sure the child is going to be there at that exact time? You know what kids are like at the end of the school day, chatting with their mates, while the person collecting them is waiting in a queue of traffic holding everyone else up.

"It shouldn't be such a problem dropping off, but when it comes to collection time we shall have to wait and see if the traffic flows. I hope it does work. Others seem to have more confidence than I do. I don't mind being proven wrong but I can't see it being anything more than chaos. We will get a chance to find out more at our parish council meeting on Wednesday evening."

The new car park, once completed, will have a one-way system. Vehicles will enter from Station Road, and exit onto Vickers Road. Once the car park is created, the council aims to create a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) to control on-street parking in Station Road.

Meanwhile congestion on the A16 Louth Road is set to continue with a single-file traffic management scheme until the end of October.

A spokesperson for David Wilson Homes, said: “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience to local residents as we carry out essential infrastructure work on Louth Road. The work is on schedule to be completed by the end of October and a temporary traffic management scheme is in place to maintain public safety.”

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