Don’t risk lives to save cash, council urged

ROAD safety in Argyll is threatened under council savings plans, an expert has claimed.

Facing a funding gap of £8.5 million in the next year, councillors tabled a series of potential policy savings in October. One of the measures is to axe the Road Safety Unit to save £84,000.

The unit is run by one full-time and one termtime officer, providing services including road safety awareness courses in primary and secondary schools, as well as bicycle training for pupils. The move, according to former Argyll and Bute Council road safety officer Carl Olivarius, would increase danger on the roads and undermine good progress in road safety. He also believes the council would be abdicating its statutory responsibilities, should the cut go ahead.

In a letter in this week’s Advertiser - see page 6 - Mr Olivarius writes: ‘The council has a responsibility to play a major role in road casualty reduction as contained in numerous publications, including Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020, RoSPA National Road Safety Committee ‘Making Road Safety Count’ and the Road Traffic Act 1988.’

A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council responded: ‘All the budget proposals are in line with our statutory requirements. Year-onyear cuts to our funding mean that, like all councils, we must make changes to how we work.’

Mr Olivarius has received support from one of Argyll’s bestknown educators and from a Lochgilphead parent council.

Sine McVicar, former head teacher at Dunbeg Primary School, said: ‘Staff always appreciated the delivery of important safety lessons by trained specialists.

‘I would therefore have very serious concerns should this training be removed from schools.’

In a letter to councillors, the vice chairman of Lochgilphead High School parent council Amanda Hampton wrote: ‘The work this unit does is vital to the current and future safety of Argyll and Bute’s population.

‘We urge you in the strongest possible terms to reject this proposal.’

Savings proposals will be decided at a council budget setting meeting in mid February.