TAUHEEDUL Islam Girls’ High School re-opened on Wednesday after a £7m redevelopment – but suffered some teething problems with parents picking up children from it, and nearby Westholme School.

The new campus, on the site of the former Beardwood High School, houses 800 pupils in a fully-refurbished building with state- of-the-art facilities.

But the move to the new site has not been without problems.

Parents of students at Tauheedul and Westholme School have been driving to pick up their children, leading to traffic disruption, and complaints from nearby residents.

Local people have complained the two schools have caused traffic chaos, with parents double parking, and pulling up on double yellow lines, when they collect their children at the end of the school day.

Tauheedul school has an early start time of 8am, so the morning school run has been less troublesome, but afternoon school traffic has caused a lot of problems, residents have said.

Tauheedul said it was issuing guidance to parents, asking them to park more considerately, and the school is also considering introducing staggered finishing times for students to counter the problem.

Hamid Patel, chief executive of the school trust, said: “It was the first day of school. The school had been operating for less than 24 hours. We need to keep things in perspective. While we have had a couple of complaints, we’ve also had some positive comments, and a lot of our neighbours have been very supportive.

“We want to get it working so that it works for parents, and residents, and teachers, but it will take us a couple of weeks to improve the situation.

“This is not an issue with our parents, or our school. Traffic is a problem with all the schools in Blackburn.There are lots and lots of residents in Blackburn who put up with what goes on elsewhere. But we are com-mitted to ensuring that the situation improves, and that we are not a burden on the neighbours, and that we get it right for everybody.”

Vivienne Davenport, dev-elopment director at West-holme School, said: “We are very aware of the situation, although it is improving on a daily basis. We are constantly monitoring it, and working in conjuction with Tauheedul, and the council.

“At all times the safety of children remains paramount, both the safety of our children and the safety of their children. It’s a new term, a new school, new pupils, and we have got every confidence that the situation will soon improve with collaborated working.”