VILLAGERS fear the merger of two village schools will exacerbate parking, traffic and road safety problems on their street.

Residents of Park House Gardens, in Sherburn Village, near Durham City also feel they were overlooked when Durham County Council consulted on merging Sherburn Village and Sherburn Hill primary schools earlier this year.

Park House Gardens is used as an access to Sherburn Village school and residents say parents dropping off and picking up children causes a safety risk, unacceptable congestion and damage to roadside verges from parked vehicles.

Joseph Harker, chair of Parkhouse Gardens Residents’ Association, said: “More children are going to be attending the school. Our village is going to get bigger.

“They’re proposing building more houses, which means more families and more children. So the situation in our street is only going to get worse.

“We’ve had complaints of danger being caused to children accessing the school on foot. For two hours a day, it’s hell down here. If it was a resident acting like this, they would get an Asbo.

“We’ve got no complaints with the school. But if you try to speak politely to the drivers, you just get abuse.”

The association has suggested improving the school’s Cookshold Lane entrance to allow dropping off and picking up.

The council’s cabinet agreed to merge the two small schools into a single 315-pupil primary using both sites earlier this month.

Sheila Palmerley, the council’s school places and admissions manager, said consultation took place between February and April with governors, parents, staff, pupils and the community and the proposals were advertised through the council website and community buildings.

“No issues surrounding traffic and parking were raised during the consultation,” she said, adding it was “unlikely” more children would use the Sherburn Village site than already do so as a result of the merger, which will take effect in September.

Sherburn county councillor David Hall said he would be pressing for Sherburn Primary to get whatever support it asks for, especially through the merger period, and he was happy to hear from residents or parents with any queries or concerns.