THE new councillors in the new Lydiard and Freshbrook ward will be expected to deal with the issues of dangerous parking, litter and looking after Lydiard Park.

The new ward includes Freshbrook, Grange Park and Windmill Hill, and will return three councillors at the local election.

Chris Griffin, 52, who has lived in Grange Park for four years, said: “One of the issues that I have personally is around Greendown School when it’s going-home time.

“Parents are parking all over the place and when I drive home it’s dangerous.

“When you go along Grange Park Way, when you get to the roundabout just before the school around Hay Lane, there’s parents actually parking on the roundabout.

“I would imagine there’s a lack of parking at the school itself. You have got a lot of parents coming to pick kids up, so they’re parking anywhere and everywhere. They should do something because somebody is going to get hurt.”

Chris, an IT director, said the council also needed to put better markings on the roundabout linking Whitehill Way and Tewkesbury Way.

He said: “When I come to that roundabout along Whitehill Way, either way, there’s no arrows on the road to say get in this lane to go straight ahead or go in this lane to go straight ahead.

“And what you find occasionally is people getting in the wrong lane and almost hitting each other because they’re both trying to go straight ahead.”

In other issues in the area, Roger Ogle, the publisher of The Link magazine, said that the council needed to find ways to improve the clear-up of litter and also persuade people to be tidier.

He said: “Some people don’t think it’s a major issue but it’s the general condition of the area. The litter annoys everybody but people sort of let it just pass them by.”

The Rev Tricia Roberts, of Lydiard Millicent, said she wanted to ensure the new Swindon councillors have a good relationship with the Wiltshire councillors, especially in relation to developments on the boundaries.

She said she also wanted the councillors to continuing maintaining Lydiard Park and to maintain the green buffer between it and the village.

She said: “I think the village just appreciates having it and we appreciate the fields between us and it. I think that actually is a big issue.

“We appreciate being able to get to the park and lots of people love going to the park and the children will walk over the fields sometimes to the park.

“I think Lydiard Millicent wouldn’t want houses between us and it.”