The school board made a plea to the Waihemo Community Board meeting in Palmerston last November, describing a "highly dangerous, highly congested area" where at school time up to 30 vehicles would converge to discharge or pick up pupils.
"The staff have seen many near misses," Hampden board of trustees (BOT) member Chris Hepburn said at that meeting.
Recently Mr Hannagan said resolution around the safety concerns for the lack of parking outside the school had not progressed as quickly or as far as they had hoped.
"It’s still the same ... we’re still waiting for the Waitaki District Council to bring some more signage and to paint more angled lines and other things.
The Waitaki District Council had been "hard to deal with", Mr Hannagan said.
"We’ve had some improvements but our new BOT chair Chris Hepburn has just written another letter to the Waihemo Community Board and so have the Hampden Community Energy Society.
"We’ve moved our bus stop around, so we’ve made our changes," he said.
After discussions with council staff around changing the bus pick-up and drop-off area and talking to parents and teachers about the parking issues, they also implemented angle parking and a one-way system, Mr Hannagan said.
"I’m pretty happy with how we’ve educated our school whanau and the way that they have adapted their actions, but it would still be nice to have a space that’s not so on the road."
A 30kmh speed limit is enforced during school hours.
Council infrastructure manager Joshua Rendell said it would continue to work with the school, but was "mindful that spending on infrastructure, while it might be seen as the simplest solution, [was] often the most expensive".
"There is currently no budget set aside for road safety upgrades at this time. This is due to a refocus of the National Land Transport Fund by central government and to keep rates increases to a minimum," he said.
While Mr Rendell said in most cases those kinds of issues could be resolved through discussion with school community and enacting changes, Mr Hannagan said those discussions, although helpful, did not stop heavy vehicles near the school that exacerbated the safety issues.
"There was an increase in truck traffic, and we had a bit of a roll growth for a while there, and it made things more congested.
"With the community workshop being built across from the school as well, they often park outside there, so there are all those factors too."
Mr Hannagan said he was aiming to see a safer parking solution at the school before he left to become the new principal at Totara School next year.
