A council has come under fire after painting a 'School Keep Clear' sign on a residential street that has not had a school for 15 years. Residents of Greendock Street in Longton, Staffordshire, were left bewildered when the bright yellow markings appeared outside their homes last week.
The area once housed Edensor Technology College, but it merged with another secondary school two and a half miles away, and its building closed in 2011. Homeowners have slammed the blunder as an 'unbelievable error' and demanded to know who will foot the bill for the mistake. Locals also noticed that workmen painted the letter 'S' upside down.
Furious residents questioned why the council resurfaced a street that 'didn't need doing' while neighbouring roads riddled with potholes were ignored. Ali Hassan, 72, a former property landlord living near the sign, expressed fears that residents might receive parking tickets for parking outside their own homes.
'There has not been a school here for 15 years - it moved and merged with another academy,' Mr Hassan said. 'Surely if they would have looked up and seen my house it would be pretty obvious it's not a school. I now want to know how much it is going to cost to fix and who is going to pay for it? Will it be the taxpayer footing the bill for this? And also, who at the council was responsible in the first place. How do you make such an error?'
Mr Hassan noted that the building no longer resembles a school, as it was demolished along with its football and rugby pitches and replaced with 193 houses last year. He added: 'People are worried they might get a parking fine now for parking on their own street. It's truly bizarre. Also, they came out and resurfaced a road that didn't even need resurfacing. There's loads of potholes on the next street along, but they tarmac over this street and paint a sign for a school that doesn't exist. It's crazy and who knows how much it has cost and will now cost to put right. What a waste of paint and money.'
Benjamin Elks, grassroots development manager at the Taxpayers Alliance, commented: 'Local taxpayers will be wondering how a council managed to paint 'school keep clear' markings outside a school that disappeared 15 years ago. This is exactly the kind of wasteful bureaucratic blunder that leaves residents tearing their hair out while genuine local problems like potholes are ignored. Stoke-on-Trent Council should remove the markings immediately and explain how such an absurd mistake was ever signed off in the first place.'
Social media users also expressed dismay, with one pointing out the upside-down 'S' and another asking: 'Didn't the workers doing it question it when they realised there was no school. You'd expect at least one to notice it.' A third simply said: 'Simply unbelievable,' while another joked: 'The stencil painter needs to go back to... School?'
Jane Ashworth, Labour leader at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, apologised to residents and said the authority would review the issue. She told the BBC there 'clearly isn't a school' next to the sign and branded the work 'a mess'. She added: 'I'm annoyed for the residents that live there that have been messed about but embarrassed that we made such a mistake. What we will be doing is reviewing how it happened, apologising to the residents, and making it absolutely clear that anybody who parks on what appears to be double yellow line there will not be ticketed.' Stoke-on-Trent City Council has been contacted for comment.
