TOUGH new measures which will make it harder for parents to clog York streets during the "school run" have got the go-ahead.

Councillors last night approved proposals to improve safety zones around Rawcliffe, Osbaldwick, Derwent and Wigginton Primary Schools.

That will mean new traffic regulation orders (TROs) will be put in place, which will prevent parents dropping their children off in certain streets near schools.

Members of City of York Council's planning and transport east area sub committee agreed the measures were necessary to prevent what council officers have called "inconsiderate and dangerous parking".

Council transport and safety engineer Graham Kelly said in a report: "Officers accept that there is always going to be a certain level of car usage for car trips, for example, those parents who continue their journey to work after dropping off their children at school, but it is the short journeys which some parents make and then return home which we are trying to reduce."

Committee member Coun Ian Cuthbertson, backing plans for Wigginton Primary School, said: "This is absolutely necessary. That they park at the back of the school is bad enough on one side of the road, but when people try to park on the other it gets silly."

Clifton ward member Coun Ken King added: "They parents would drive into the classroom if they could."

The new measures will mean:

Rawcliffe: Double yellow lines on a section of Eastholme Drive. Extension of double yellow lines around corners of Westholme Drive junction. Refreshing zig-zag road markings on Eastholme Drive. Cost: £1,750

Osbaldwick: Timber bollards next to school pedestrian entrance. Keep Clear marking on playground gateway; no-stopping order at school run periods on new zig-zag markings near school. Double yellow lines opposite zig-zag markings on both sides of The Leyes between school and community centre. Cost: £3,000

Derwent: Extension of zig-zag markings around school. Double yellow lines on a section of Osbaldwick Lane. Repairs to road table. Cost: £13,000

Wigginton: Double yellow lines extended on Greenshaw Drive. Keep Clear marking replaced with double yellow lines. Cost: £1,500.

Education chief Coun Carol Runciman said the new measures were "a good start", but added they were not the answer to all school parking problems.

"I hope that parents will walk their children to school or cycle to school whenever they possibly can, because it's not just safer, it's healthier," she said.

Updated: 10:09 Friday, August 12, 2005