Pay for car parking here
Unfortunately, we are unable to continue to offer our car park for free use to Stanton Primary School parents and residents from September 2023 due to financial pressures we are facing.
We have experienced a fourfold increase in energy costs over the last five years as well as other factors that are placing a great strain on our Charity.
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From September 2023, school parents and residents will need to pay the equivalent of £7 per month (September to July) for use of our car park.
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We know that this will be disappointing and we have tried hard to avoid this for many years, but without it, we face both financial and operational challenges (contributions from parking may help us pay for a cleaner for instance). Ultimately, if we cannot overcome these financial challenges then the car park and Hall may be lost for good.
Two-thirds of our committee are school parents and so this isn't something we find easy but it's important.
The alternative would be that we stop school use altogether so that we can fill school times with paying hirers - we lose out on around £4800 a year by keeping these times free for school.
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In return for your support, we are able to provide a 10% discount off party hire with us. You are also entitled to a partial refund on your parking charge when you volunteer at the Hall (see terms).
Terms
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​The termly parking fee does not guarantee you a space in the car park.
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Car parking is offered for normal school pickups and drop off times only. It is not offered for other school events at other times since we usually have hall hirers/users at these times.
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Volunteer refunds: For every hour of volunteer effort given to the Village Hall we will refund your parking fee at the equivalent of £7.50 for each hour of volunteering time (upto the maximum parking price paid only). For instance, 1 hour of volunteering is worth £7.50 off your parking (applied looking back and not forward to prevent abuse (people offering volunteering and then not). Volunteering must be done formally at one of our events or by prior arrangement.
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Parents must not use the car park if they have not paid.
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Abuse of the car park such as littering may result in future use being declined.
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FAQs
I don't want to pay?
You are welcome to park elsewhere. There are various roads a short walk from the school. If you do not pay then you must not use our car park.
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You might want to explore our volunteering scheme - we will partially refund parking fees for those who volunteer with us.
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Can I get a refund if I struggle to find a space?
The parking fees don't guarantee a space and no refunds are available. Those with experience of the car park will know this can be busy. Parents are welcome to work with us to find a better system but this is not something that we can resource ourselves.
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We hope that these charges might encourage some parents to walk to stop the car park being quite so busy.
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What if people don't pay?
In the first instance, we're trusting parents to do the right thing.
We are also in talks with a third party private parking operator in case we need to resort to ticketing. If we introduced this then we would provide permits but we could refuse to offer these to anyone who had previously failed to pay.
The alternative if we see abuse is that we stop use of the carpark and fill school times with paying hirers.
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How are the parking fees calculated?
There are 39 weeks in the school year and we factor parking at £2 per week (20p a time). So £78 (£2 x 39 weeks) over the academic year. We're making this payable over the 11 months in the academic year (September - July) which works out at £7 per month.
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This isn't fair?
It's not fair or responsible for our charity to be losing out on vital income from hire and experiencing a great deal of wear and tear on the car park with little in return.
We are a charity and at the time of writing can't afford any paid support to keep running. Our unpaid trustees and volunteers work tirelessly to keep the hall for the community and they check the defibrillator (the nearest to the school) weekly. It is not fair on them that the burden of running the Hall is so great whilst giving so much to the school community with little in return.
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We have previously tried to speak to the County Council and others about car parking and they have not been interested in supporting us to keep this available.
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My child is not great near roads so your car park has been handy, but I might have to stop using it if I have to pay.
We agree that the road isn't great and have raised extensive concerns about the safety of the road with Derbyshire County Council to no avail. We have tried to get parents to support this with few joining us in lobbying for this. For many years, the majority of our committee has been and is made up of school parents.
We are self-funded and we must ensure we can pay our bills.
Please raise any safety concerns about the road with the School, Council and your Councillors.
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