Work will begin on extending the pavement outside Kirkliston Primary School in the week beginning 28 September 2020.
Cllr Louise Young represents Almond Ward which includes Kirkliston, and she posed a question to the Transport Convener about the proposal she had made to widen the pavement at the primary school, which would allow safe distancing for parents and pupils, as it was unclear what was happening. She explained that there are around 100 parents attending the school daily picking up and dropping off children.
The Transport Convener, Lesley Macinnes, confirmed that council officers are conducting road safety and public health assessments for all of the city’s schools, that appropriate measures to avoid overcrowding on this pavement have been discussed. There is now a one-way system marked out and a Park and Stride arrangement has been promoted. (This is an arrangement whereby anyone dropping off children at school leave the car away from the school building and walk the children to the school gate. All of the children in Primary 3 and 4 are met further away from the school gate so that it does not become congested.
After the meeting Cllr Young told us: “While it’s good to see there is some movement planned on my proposal, it is extremely frustrating that these things sit unanswered. Only when I submitted a question to the Council Chamber, was there some action taken. The School and the Parent Council are very supportive of making changes to the pavement to help ensure safe distancing outside the largest primary school in the city. I look forward to getting the promised reply which will hopefully confirm that our proposals are being taken forward.”
Cllr Macinnes confirmed that all 126 schools will have been assessed and measures will be in place by the end of October. She said: “We are rolling out a programme of quick action around this.”
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