ANGRY neighbours of a school and a football club are worried traffic jams and parking shortages will become commonplace if the two are allowed to host events at the same time.
Families living next to Krishna-Avanti Primary School and adjacent William Ellis Playing Fields - home of Belmont United Youth FC - in Camrose Avenue, Edgware, believe scenes witnessed recently when a weekly soccer academy clashed with a school open day could be replicated week in, week out.
Len Halsey, of Broomgrove Gardens, chairman of William Ellis Residents’ Association, said: “The football club has limited parking facilities for club officials and visitors have to park in the side roads, and people that came to the school had to park wherever they could - the school has no parking per se, just drop-off points.
“The traffic on Saturday March 3 brought the area to a standstill and the residents were absolutely incandescent. They were lots of words exchanged and people got wound up.
“People were parking across driveways and motorists, including a milk float, were driving across verges and pavements to get out of the traffic.”
He and other residents assocation members are among local households who fear a repeat of the chaos if the school’s bid to remove restrictions on out-of-hours use of the building is successful.
Mr Halsey said: “If the school was to be used at weekends and in the evening time in the summer, when Belmont FC has weeknight training, there’s clearly going to be a massive problem with parking.
“Not only that, but the knock-on effect on noise, traffic, pollution, security and privacy, and our quality of life.
“We are opposing the school’s application and we are lobbying the council, and have an upcoming meeting with the council, and we’re liaising closely with the football club and finding out how they see things moving forward.
“The solution is to reject the application, and to separate the football club’s use of the site from the school’s use, and that would give the residents some sort of respite.
“They’re saying we’ve had enough of this.”
Derek Clements, president of Belmont United Youth FC, said: "They have a valid point. Traffic problems are exactly what's going to happen.
"We only have 20 spaces for emergency vehicles and managers, and none for parents."
Nitesh Gor, chairman of governors at Krishna-Avanti Primary School, said: "There isn't a school that doesn't have some traffic around it. I was out there that morning and it wasn't anything to complain about."
