Safety crossings around a primary school that the local community have been demanding for years are still on a roads department “to do “list, West Lothian councillors have been assured.
Parents and local councillors have pushed for a crossing at Peel Primary since 2019. The school sits in the middle of the Eliburn housing estate and is surrounded by narrow suburban streets lined with dense tree cover.
Some works such as safety barriers have been installed on the roads around the school principally to deter parking on pavements but there is no specific crossing near the school.
Questions arose as Roads Network Manager Gordon Brown revealed capital spending plans to improve roads in northern Livingston.
Planned road improvement highlights expenditure of just over £2m up to 2027/28 but there are no specifics about safety schemes including a crossing at Peel Primary- something locals have been campaigning for since before the Covid Lockdown.
At this month’s meeting of the Livingston North Local Area Committee Councillor Alison Adamson asked Mr Brown, who also acts as lead officer for the local committee: “There’s no mention about traffic calming or crossing patrols or anything like that.
“Can we still be sure that the wishlist of the community is still being looked at when any potential funding becomes available?
“I’m thinking about the traffic calming at Glen Crescent but also outside Peel Primary in Eliburn. They’ ve been looking for additional safety enhancements, but there’s no mention in this paper.
“Is the list still there so these projects can be drawn upon when funding is identified?”
Mr Brown replied: “Yes, I can confirm that when councillor and member of the public enquiries come in for new infrastructure, such as new crossings and traffic calming and new infrastructure we have list we keep updated if we think enquiries are justified.
“That’s called the Infrastructure Request List so that’s constantly maintained by officers for when future funding becomes available, either internally through the council or through external funding from Transport Scotland.
Councillor Adamson required: “Brilliant. So that’s an ongoing thing.”
Mr Brown also gave the same assurance on a Peel Primary crossing to another councillor, Andrew Miller.
In a report to the committee Mr Brown detailed: “There is £2.221 million of investment in the capital budget for roads related assets within Livingston North between 2024/25 and 2027/28.
“Investment in road and footway maintenance will see resurfacing works undertaken on Huron Avenue and Knightsridge Road with a combined investment of £367,000. Significant investment of £1.522 million will be made for replacement street columns and associated works between 2024/25 and 2025/26.
“This will include Moncrieff Way, Stewart, Ogilvie, Robertson and Sinclair Way. There will be investment of £11,000 on town centre schemes in Carmondean in 2024/25.”
Total planned investment in northern Livingston will be £2.9m and will include open space improvements to primary school buildings, local parks including the installation of MUGA pitch in Eliburn Park and shopping centre improvements in the Carmondean centre.
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
