There have been several near misses at the school and reports of illegal and dangerous parking on both school entrances. Parents are regularly forced to walk their children and pushchairs into the road in order to pass by cars parked in the no stop zone
Started by: Laura Kirmizi (N/a)
This ePetition ran from 18/11/2025 to 05/01/2026 and has now finished.
5 people signed this ePetition.
Thank you for your petition regarding enforcement of the School Zone at Millfield LEAD Academy.
The County Council fully appreciates the difficulties that road users at times experience regarding traffic congestion, and unfortunately this does typically occur at most school locations at drop-off and collection times where on street parking is required. The ethos of the Millfield School Zone was to encourage parents to walk from the park and stride locations and not to drive into the school zone.
Unfortunately, with each new intake to the school, more and more parents are driving into the zone to try and park, which is disappointing to both the County Council and undoubtably to the school. As part of the Choose How You Move schools programme, the Council will work with the School to support them in educating new parents about the zone and in promoting the park and stride facilities that are available.
There are a number of restrictions in the area, as alluded to in the petition. These are enforced by Civil Enforcement Officers (CEO). The camera cars are also used for enforcement in the area, but they are only able to enforce the School Keep Clear markings.
The camera car visited Millfield Academy plus the other schools in the area 15 times during 2025.
In addition to the camera car visits, the following visits, up to the end of the last academic year, were carried out by the CEO’s as below:
• Hat Road – 17 visits, no penalties issued (March,
April, May, June).
• Ravenhurst Road – 26 visits, five penalties issued
(Jan, Feb, April, June).
• Woodcote Road – 37 visits, eight penalties issued
(March, April, May, June).
As evidenced above, the enforcement of the restrictions in this area is regularly undertaken and it will continue to be carried out in line with the approach taken at other schools across the County. The Council’s enforcement activity is applied consistently to ensure fairness and parity for all locations. As noted in the petition, the root cause of the issues that are experienced relates to the behaviour of parents during the school drop off and pick up times.
To ensure that the enforcement remains effective and impartial, the Council does not publish the patrol routes or the timings, as this would predictability reduce the value of the Council’s enforcement presence. These patrols are planned in advance and delivered by Harborough District Council, who provide on street parking enforcement on behalf of Leicestershire County Council through its joint partnership arrangements. Patrol routes are shared only internally with the parking management team and the CEO’s to help ensure fairness and consistency across all of the locations.
While this is a common behavioural issue of parents outside most
schools across the County, the Council is actively trying to work
with the School through the provision of the Council’s
extensive road safety education programme and through the provision
of travel planning advice to encourage more sustainable modes of
travel to school, including the use of the park and stride sites
linked with the controlled zone.
The Council intends to work closely with the School’s staff,
parents, and pupils, offering practical support and tailored
information to meet the School’s needs. The Council also
delivered bikeability training to 18 Year 5 pupils last year, and
the Council will continue to roll this training out to the School
going forward.
Unfortunately, whilst the School and the County Council can encourage and deliver initiatives, ultimately the Council cannot force parents/carers to walk their children to school or to park in a specific location, but the Council will continue to drive these behaviour changes and road safety education initiatives with schools in parallel with the enforcement of the restrictions to try and reduce the impacts of the school run behaviours that are currently being experienced.
I trust that the above reassures the petitioners that the enforcement is being undertaken and that the Council is actively engaging with the school on the initiatives to help improve the situation.
Kind regards,
Ann Carruthers
Director of Environment and Transport
Leicestershire County Council