Safety fears over underpass
Wallace High School pupils will have their concerns over the safety of a city underpass heard publicly by councillors.
Their fears over the Customs Roundabout will be spelled out to Stirling Council’s public safety committee on Tuesday.
Council officials are asking committee members to note existing safety measures and improvements carried out to date but also to allow council officers to work with representatives from the school to address any issues highlighted in a safety audit due to be carried out by police next week.
Pupils produced a Youtube video highlighting their issues with the roundabout,
which include the need for improved lighting, better signage, higher levels of cleanliness, murals and visible CCTV.
The Customs Roundabout provides pedestrian access for the Riverside, Raploch, Causewayhead and city centre communities.
In February 2016 a woman was raped in the underpass and in 2011 88 yearold war veteran John Gillespie died after being found injured there.
The former sailor had been beaten by a man after he refused to hand over his wallet.
Such incidents were said to have added to the pupils’ concerns and they also felt one the alternatives to the underpasses, Stirling New Bridge which carries the A9, was unsafe for pedestrians because of its narrow pavements.
In a report to the committee officials say: “A digital CCTV camera exists at the roundabout and has an ability to focus on each of the three underpasses at this location.”
They said the roads department had delivered a programme of improved replacement LED lighting to underpasses in the city centre over the last three years, including the Customs Roundabout in December - after the pupils’ video was filmed.
The underpass lighting is activated when the nearby street lights switch on and off.
They added: “There may be opportunities to improve the lighting of the underpasses further via the rollout of intelligent street lighting as part of the Smarter Cities programme for the city centre.
“The underpasses at Customs Roundabout were recently painted by community justice teams in advance of the Stirling Marathon in May.
“The underpasses are litter picked and adjacent litter bins are emptied on a daily basis, seven days a week.
“Reactive cleaning of the underpasses is undertaken by the street cleaning service when there are reported incidences of anti-social behaviour, defecating, vomit, blood spillages, etc.
“The safer communities team have confirmed no reported incidents at this locale.”
Recorded crimes in the area recently are said to have been linked to Union Street, Wallace Street, Bruce Street, Laurencecroft Road and the Bayne’s shop.
There were said to be no crimes recorded at the roundabout itself.
Police had received only one call directly linked to the roundabout area, relating to five or six men drinking in the area around 7pm on a Wednesday and one of the men urinating.