A Moray councillor has suggested the local authority surrender the use of spaces at its town-centre car park to ease congestion at a nearby school.
Parents at East End Primary have voiced fears that plans to accommodate an influx of pupils while a new school is being built will cause traffic chaos.
Elgin City North councillor Patsy Gowans believes the problem could be solved if the local authority surrendered bays reserved for staff at the car park attached to its High Street annex, which could be used by parents dropping off and collecting children.
Mrs Gowans said: “This could really help alleviate parking problems at East End Primary School.
“We are at a crisis point with our primary schools in Elgin, and we need to form a strategic solution to that.
“This would have to be monitored, to ensure that parents didn’t leave their cars there longer than necessary, but it should certainly be looked into.
“We could look at providing staff bays in the St Giles centre car park instead, or outside Elgin Town Hall.”
Mrs Gowans said a “flexitime” approach to shifts could be incorporated, with some local authority employees beginning at 9.30am after parents have come and gone.
A Moray Council spokesman said the scheme proposed by Mrs Gowans would prove tricky to enforce.
He said: “Only a small percentage of staff working at the council’s High Street headquarters and annex are catered for in the car park, most use the paid-for parking or on-street zones elsewhere in the town.
“There would be significant costs associated with these proposals, not only with the required enforcement and monitoring identified by Mrs Gowans but the necessary changes to ticketing systems for suggested alternative parking.”
Moray Council has launched a drive to tackle a capacity crisis at Elgin’s primaries by building a new school in the south-east of the town.
East End Primary School’s parent council has criticised plans to house children destined for the new school at the existing primary.
The group and neighbouring residents have voiced fears that the surrounding streets will not be able to cope with an increase in traffic.
Councillors will meet next month to discuss the proposals, which have already been the subject of a public consultation.