Restrictions for drivers outside a Balham school have been put in place eight months after protesters called on the council to take action.
In May 2019 a group of about 20 people from Chestnut Grove Academy gathered at the roundabout turning into Boundaries Road.
There, they held up 20mph signs, reminding those drivers speeding past to slow down.
Among them was mother and Earlsfield councillor Jo Rigby who called for safety restrictions to be implemented outside the school to make it safer for students and cyclists.
Now it seems that Wandsworth Council has listened.
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This month new rules banning cars and lorries from parking in the southbound cycle lane in Chestnut Grove to load and unload have been introduced.
The prohibition will apply Mondays to Fridays between 7am and 10am and also between 3pm and 7pm – times of the day when many children and teenagers are walking to and from Chestnut Grove Academy.
The council’s transport spokesman Cllr Paul Ellis said: “Chestnut Grove is a fairly narrow but busy route for cyclists and for young people attending the academy.
“Preventing vehicles, especially delivery lorries from parking across its cycle lane during the busiest times of the days will make it much safer for people on bicycles and for pedestrians who are often forced to emerge onto the carriageway from behind parked vehicles, which can be very dangerous.”
Chestnut Grove cycle lane
The cycle lane runs southbound along Chestnut Grove from just north of the junction with Boundaries Road to the junction with Balham High Road.
Cllr Rigby was pleased with the decision, but added that more could still be done.
"This measure is welcome, however we still need the issues around the roundabout on Chestnut Grove addressed so that children are not put in direct conflict with drivers who are using the road as a rat run or driving children to schools," she said.
"This road should be a School Street, giving our children a safe place to walk/cycle, without having to breathe in the toxic fumes from vehicles that pollute the street and playgrounds."
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