IMPORTANT - Access to School During Planned Park Road South Construction Work

Dear Parents

I am writing to let you know that we have been informed by Hampshire County Council that construction work for the widening of Park Road South is due to start this month. This scheme is something that has been in the planning for some time, but a start date has only just been agreed.

Unfortunately, these construction works will cause a considerable amount of disruption to the school, as our small access gate on Park Road South (opposite Tesco) will need to be totally closed as part of the work. There will be no access to the school whatsoever via this route as the whole of the footway between the path to The Parchment and the footbridge over the A27 will be closed to pedestrians. The bus stop just to the North of our small access gate will also be temporarily suspended. Our only access point will be via South Street through the main gates. This will be in place from Monday 18^th September 2023.

We have been working with Hampshire County Council to try to come up with solutions to this disruption.  The pedestrian crossing on Park Road South (Solent Road junction) will continue to operate normally enabling parents who use the Park and Stride scheme from Tesco Car Park to continue to do so. Parents using either Tesco or Bulbeck Road Car Parks for the Park and Stride will be diverted into the footway to The Parchment and onto South Street to access the school. There will also be a temporary pedestrian crossing signal on South Street in the vicinity of The Parchment to assist parents and pupils in crossing South Street safely. A map is attached which should clearly mark the footway closures and the available routes to school.

As a school, we will try to ‘police’ the roundabout at the bottom of South Street whenever possible. However, the onus has got to be on parents to follow the advice we already give about totally avoiding driving down South Street at drop off and collection times. This is going to be even more important whilst we are going through this period of restricted access. We have managed to secure an increase in visits from traffic wardens, who will be patrolling the area on a regular basis and issuing tickets to anyone found to be parking illegally. They will also be patrolling The Parchment to ensure no parents are using this as an alternative parking area.

These temporary access arrangements are likely to need to be in place at least until the end of the Autumn Term. I will of course keep you updated.

Thank you for your support in working together to keep Bosmere children safe.

Kind regards

Kathryn Robinson
Headteacher