Open Letter

Dear Mr Kennedy,

Sadly, I must say the time for further conversations—which frankly have amounted to naught—has passed. The local community has asked, requested, suggested, met with you at length on several occasions and listened to the school's excuses time and time again about what you intend to do regarding the problem of your coaches double/triple parking.

What conversations occur between the school and the coach company I cannot imagine; from the actions of the coach drivers, not one of them appears to have been instructed: please do not double park, please park in an inset, please be respectful to other road users, as the current situation is dangerous.

As a community, we have laid out to you that the coach company you employ to deliver your students to the school engages in potentially dangerous parking practices, and that an accident could happen. When the road becomes blocked with your coaches double parking and sometimes triple parking, vehicles of all sorts struggle to pass, and it would take only one driver to take matters into their own hands—speeding up or performing a reckless manoeuvre—for a person to be knocked down and killed. Frankly, how an accident hasn't yet occurred is beyond me, but one will happen unless the problem is resolved immediately. As an organisation, you stated that you would resolve the parking problem by December 2024/January of this year. Yet the problem persists.

I was disappointed to read in your email (March 6th) that the school thought promising that the problem would stop in September would appease us; that is merely abstaining from addressing the immediate issue. The constant stream of excuses about your intended actions reveals that the school simply does not care, and is blatantly disrespectful to other road users, the local community, and especially those who live in the lower part of Sutherland Road. It is quite obvious that the school is employing a strategy of either allowing the contract to run out, avoiding confrontation with the coach company, or burying your head in the sand rather than resolving the problem.

I therefore put you on notice that unless the double-parking situation with the coaches is resolved within the next seven days, I will take a personal stance against both the school and the coaches in Sutherland Road.