ePetition details

Protect Our Children: Reinstate Safe Nursery Parking at Minster Yard

We the undersigned petition the council to We, the undersigned, including parents and guardians of children attending Little Green Rascals Day Nursery Minster Yard, are writing to formally request the immediate reinstatement of a managed parking drop-off arrangement. We urge the City of York Council and the York Minster Chapter to work together to restore a workable, safe, and designated parking arrangement for nursery drop-offs and pick-ups for the safety of its youngest citizens. The current lack of a designated stopping area has created a significant safety risk for young children and increased traffic volatility in the sensitive Minster Yard area. To resolve this pragmatically and with minimal impact on local traffic flow, we propose the following solution.

The Proposed Solution:

10-Minute Grace Window: A strictly limited 10-minute window for drop-off and pick-up during peak nursery hours. This ensures a high turnover of spaces and prevents long-term parking abuse.

Official Parent Identification: Access to this window will be strictly regulated by an Official Parent Badge, issued by the nursery and displayed clearly on the dashboard.

Designated Zone: Re-authorising the previous drop-off point to ensure children are not forced to navigate high-traffic pedestrian routes or busy roads over long distances.

Reasons for Reinstatement:

1) Proven Safety and Efficacy: This process functioned effectively for a significant period without compromising highway safety. By revoking this agreement, the Council has unilaterally removed a pragmatic solution that balanced the needs of the nursery with the traffic requirements of the ward. What specific evidence or safety audits led to the conclusion that this long-standing arrangement was no longer viable?

2) "Alighting" for Minors: The Highway Code allows for vehicles to stop for passengers to "board or alight." In the context of a nursery-aged child, "alighting" is not a solo activity; it requires a parent to physically assist the child out of a car seat and to the nursery gate. To penalise a parent for the two minutes required to ensure a child is safely off the highway—a practice previously sanctioned by your own department—is both inconsistent and unreasonable.

3) The Inadequacy of the Monk Bar "Park and Stride" A "5 to 10 minute walk" from Monk Bar is not a comparable alternative. For a parent navigating a toddler, an infant in a carrier, and bags—often in adverse weather or during dark winter mornings—this journey is significantly longer and introduces more risks than a controlled 5-minute drop-off at the nursery entrance.

4) Contradiction of Social Value Policies: York City Council’s own Social Value policies should prioritise the health, safety, and well-being of its citizens. Restricting nursery access for the sake of "aesthetic" traffic flow ignores the social necessity of accessible childcare and community support.

5)Threat to Essential Business: The childcare industry is currently under immense national pressure. By removing access, the Council is actively destabilising a vital local employer and essential service provider, making it harder for this business to survive.

Request for Reinstatement: Given that a precedent for a 10-minute waiver has already been set and successfully managed, I am requesting that the Council reinstate the LGR Parent Badge agreement. If the Council is unwilling to do so, please provide the specific data, traffic reports, or safety incidents that justified the removal of this previously approved arrangement.

Submitted by: Aoife Cameron

This ePetition runs from 19/02/2026 to 02/04/2026.

47 people have signed this ePetition.