Traffic issues in Arbory parish need addressing, said the local authority.

The speed of traffic through the villages, the state of the roads and congestion at the school have prompted parishioners to complain to commissioners.

The issue came to a head when the school suggested those driving large cars do not use the school car park.

One parent said on Facebook: ’This has to be the biggest joke going, right? I don’t think it’s fair or right to discriminate against people with 4x4s or the van type people carriers.’

’And to be telling these people they are not allowed to use the car park and have to park on the road side is absolutely ludicrous - and after 8.40am not to even park in the car park at all but to park on the road is a joke.

’Well I for one will not be parking my 4x4 on the roadside to potentially put my children at risk if I get to the car park and there is a space then I will proceed to fill it.’

The comments prompted the Facebook page’s administrator to urge members to adopt the playground rule of "if you cannot think of anything nice to say, don’t say it at all". School matters should be reported to the school, they added.

Commissioners’ chairman Jane Glover said: ’It’s quite a narrow road, it can get congested. Twenty years ago you would walk to school but now that happens less. Vehicles are bigger and people can make poor manoeuvres.

’The headmaster made a suggestion about parking and it was seen as an instruction.

’It was blown up on social media.’

She added: ’For over 18 months we have been contacting the Department of Infrastructure and the police to try and resolve highway issues in the parish. One only has to look through the minutes of our meetings to see how often we have had to chase responses and actions to highlighted problems.

’As a board we believe parishioners should be able to come to us to report problems. We should then be able to get results by contacting relevant parties through established procedures and processes.

’We do not believe that to get answers we should have to "shout the loudest" or "bang the table".

’Neither should people have to resort to social media or the media to be heard. We have not had satisfactory results latterly and want to find out why.’

During the next couple of months the board has meetings with MHKs Jason Moorhouse and Graham Cregeen, ’to ensure Arbory issues are on their agendas’.