'Children's safety at risk' by lorries ignoring school restrictions at Peterborough building site, resident claims

A Peterborough resident has said children’s safety is being put at risk by building site traffic ignoring restrictions on travel around a city school.

Construction Management Plans (CMPs) are in place in the Hampton Water area of the city, including to prevent lorries travelling down the Waterhouse Way past Hampton Lakes Primary School, especially during busy times at the start and end of the school day.

But Peterborough City Council have confirmed restrictions have already been breached on a number of occasions – and resident Stephen James said children’s safety was at risk.

He said: “Building started in 2022 on a number of the sites in the area of Waterhouse in Peterborough. All these have a Construction Management Plans(CMP) in place which stipulates when deliveries can be made to the sites and what routes they must use. For example they are not allowed to receive deliveries during the school drop off and pick up times in addition to this the sites should have signs outside instructing lorries to drive directly onto their sites.

“This should mean that no lorries should be using the road outside the Hampton Lakes Primary School. However from the outset not only were lorries making deliveries during the school runs they were using the road immediately outside the school to turn their lorries, sometimes using shared roads which children are walking to school on to do so, driving up on the pavements as children do so, using the school car park entrance to turn round in as children are being dropped off, damaging verges plus kerbstones and reversing round corners with no one behind to ensure the road is clear behind to do so.

“This is creating unacceptable risks for the children attending the school.”

A spokesperson for Peterborough City Council said: “There are four CMPs in place in this area, which officers from our Planning Enforcement team regularly monitor. We are aware of three incidents where the CMPs have been breached which we are currently investigating in order to determine appropriate action.

“Officers have met with residents to discuss their concerns and we will continue to monitor the situation to help ensure that conditions of the CMPs are being adhered to.”