Friday 13 November 2009

Primary School Pupil Safety

I am pleased to have been advised by the City Council that, following my raising the condition of the Wilkie’s Lane car park at St Joseph’s Primary School with the Education Department, it was agreed to remove potholes and smooth the surface. There were concerns that the poor car park surface was discouraging use of it and resulting in a large number of vehicles attempting to park in the nearby busy Bellfield Street, raising safety concerns, and I had recently spoken with Tayside Police about these congestion concerns at Bellfield Street.

The City Council has advised me that over the in-service days that took place at the end of this week (12/13 November), the car park in Wilkie’s Lane would be scraped and pot holes filled in. I hope that this action will make the car park a bit more usable and therefore reduce the number of cars trying to park on the very busy Bellfield Street when the school is opening in the morning, at lunchtime and at the end of the school day.

I have also had complaints about the congestion caused by vehicles trying to drop off and collect pupils at the nearby Blackness Primary School in Pennycook Lane.

In addition to parents expressing concern about the volume of vehicles in Pennycook Lane and the adjacent car park and resulting child safety concerns, residents in the nearby sheltered housing have also been in touch with me about the matter. I have spoken with the Head Teacher about this, the local police officer and the City Council’s Depute Chief Executive.

As well as to looking at specific steps that may be taken at Blackness Primary School, the City Council has advised me that it is hoped to bring to committee next month a report on the outcome of the school parking safety pilot projects at Park Place and Eastern Primaries.

Clearly we wish to see improvements for the safe collection of pupils and road safety at all our schools and I am advised that, if this report is approved at committee, there will be discussions with headteachers across the city about specific ways to improve road safety and parking at each school.