THE habit of mass parking around schools in Ludlow and south Shropshire is set to become a thing of the past.

There will also be 20mph restrictions around all schools in the county within five years which is much faster than had been envisaged.

New 20mph limits will be imposed on roads around all Shropshire schools by 2025 after councillors said the proposed 10-year time frame was far too long.

The move will affect 126 of the county’s 150 schools which do not already sit within 20mph zones, and will also include a review of measures like parking arrangements to improve overall road safety.

A report presented at a full council meeting set out time and cost estimations for the scheme, which was supported by members in December 2019 following a motion from Councillor Dan Morris.

It said the project could cost up to £2.9 million and take five to seven years to complete, if work was to begin in the 2022/23 financial year.

But this was rejected by Councillor Steve Davenport, portfolio holder for highways, who proposed that it should be completed by May 2025.

This was supported by councillors, though a proposed amendment by Councillor Tony Parsons asking for completion by 2023 was defeated.

The report, by highways manager Steve Brown, also looked into the possibility of implementing ‘school streets’, by banning cars from roads with schools on at drop-off and collection times.

The idea was supported by members.

The report said there were 11 accidents outside schools in the last three years, according to police data, three of which were deemed ‘serious’. In total there were 22 casualties, including seven pedestrians of whom four were children.

Six of the reported accidents happened at peak times resulting in six casualties, all of whom were pedestrians and four were children.A consultation will now start.