Cllr Mike Greene

TEACHERS should lose their school parking spaces as part of Camden’s campaign to reduce the number of cars on the school run, according to Councillor Mike Greene, writes Jonathan Allen.
But headteachers say that losing the car parks would make it more difficult to attract the best teachers to Camden’s schools.
Cllr Greene, who sits on the council’s School Travel Consultation Steering Group, does not see why teachers should be exempt from Camden’s policy and wants to see car parks in Camden’s schools turned into extra playground space.
He said: “The parent that has made the effort and given up the car – has walked the mile to school or sat on the bus – then sees the child’s teacher pulling up in a car and walking into the classroom – well, what message does that show?
Parents don’t feel an example is being set. There is no good reason for teachers to be an exception.”
He recognises that teachers are likely to react badly to losing a “perk”, but adds: “Where we are talking about is very close to public transport.”
At a recent Town Hall planning meeting he objected to the car park in the plans of the new building for St Mary and St Pancras Primary School in Polygon Road, Somers Town. The original plans included nine spaces, since reduced to four. Speaking about the car park later to the New Journal he said: “Given our policy on the school run this seems like a retrograde step.”
Sheila McCalla-Gordon, headteacher at St Mary and St Pancras, said: “Recruiting teachers into the inner-city is difficult enough as it is. If we want the best teachers, we have to be able to offer a parking space, even if just for emergency use.”
The school meets with Camden’s environment officers in the next few weeks to draw up a green travel plan.
A spokeswoman for the National Union of Teachers said: “One of the difficulties for teachers is that they have huge amount of work to take forwards and backwards to school. If they have to carry it on bus and Underground, the likelihood is that they’ll suffer back damage and have to be replaced by supply teachers.”