A NAILSEA councillor is hoping to put a stop to traffic chaos outside two schools by calling for new traffic measures to be implemented.

Councillor James Tonkin, chairman of Nailsea’s planning and environmental committee, is fed up of traffic grinding to a halt in Whiteoak Way while parents drop off and pick up their children at Hannah More Infant and Grove Junior schools.

Cllr Tonkin is appealing for a yellow line to be painted on the busy road, restricting parking times to off-peak hours, and a box to be drawn on the road to enable buses to stop safely outside the bus stop.

He said: “The problem is that people are parking all over the place up and down that road causing major congestion.

“I was standing at the bus stop the other day and there was a car parked at the bus stop. When the bus came it had to park in the middle of the road, which caused more congestion.

“A bus was also badly damaged the other day when a car door opened into it. It won’t be long before a child is hurt.

“People are parking in the most ridiculous places and there’s no need for it.”

Cllr Tonkin has been trying to find a solution to the problem for nearly two years.

Grove Sports Centre, in nearby St Marys Grove, allows parents to use its car park and pupils can then access either school via a link path, but Cllr Tonkin said not everyone is taking advantage of the agreement.

He said: “There’s an arrangement for parking in the Grove Sports Centre car park, which is well used, but not to capacity.

“We are also trying to encourage people not to park across neighbours’ driveways.

“Hannah More Infant School is backing our proposal and we’ve also sent letters out to residents and the general consensus is that something has got to be done about it.”

CllrTonkin is still in talks with Grove Junior School about the matter and is also waiting for feedback from nearby residents.

The proposal will then go before Nailsea Town Council, before the authority approaches North Somerset Council with the scheme.