Residents revolt after traffic chaos around Chiswick Community School

The roads around Chiswick Community School have become a no go area for motorists in the know every first Sunday of the month because of sheer scale of the car boot sale that takes place there.

Although traffic is known to be awful on these Sundays, last weekend, 4th October, was particularly bad.

Local resident Paul Allen called the traffic 'utter chaos' saying, "The yellow line restrictions seem to be un-policed as visitor’s cars were allowed to park anywhere they liked. At one point the traffic was grid locked and resident’s vehicle access to the two estates off Riverside Drive was blocked.

"This situation cannot be allowed to continue, if anyone in the two estates had to call the emergency services, they wouldn’t have gained access."

"The car boot seems to have become uncontrollable monster and is starting to control the resident’s movements rather than being a method of raising funs for the school," he added, a sentiment shared by a large number of local residents.

A spokesperson for Hounslow Council told ChiswickW4.com, "Since the car boot sales began at Chiswick Community School a few years ago, the Council has had to introduce extensive waiting and loading restrictions in the area around the school which apply only on the day of the car boot sale. These restrictions are aimed at addressing the worst problems of traffic obstruction in the area, while trying to avoid residential areas where local people would be affected by the restrictions.

"The sale on 4 October was extremely popular, resulting in parking problems in the area. We recognise that the funds raised by the sales are of great benefit to the school, and will be working with the school to investigate further measures to reduce traffic problems on the local road network."

A spokesperson for Chiswick Community School said, ‘The concerns raised on ChiswickW4 website are being addressed as a matter of urgency and the Chair of Governors is, at this moment, in the process of arranging a meeting to tackle the issues with all parties concerned.

"We are very confident we can come up with measures to address the problems, which will be acceptable to local residents and our hardworking PTA volunteers who organise the car boot sale for the benefit of the school.

"Above all we want the outcome to be in the best interests of our students which of course, means striking the right balance between raising valuable funds for the school and maintaining our good relationship with our local community."

October 8, 2009