Ashborough Village should have its own school

The Ashborough Village plan of subdivision was considered by city council at its meeting on Monday night. It’s really not a village. A village would have at its centre a school, a store, a church and all of those places that would characterize the centre of the village and were within walking distance of the neighbourhood. The plan has none of these. There is a commercial area but its on Television Road separated from the housing by a flood plain.

However the subdivider has done a good job of street organization and it will probably be suitable for bus routes although everybody may have a car or two by the time bus service is available. Generally its just more suburbia. This subdivision is part of a large area of undeveloped land contained by four existing major streets namely Ashburnham Drive, Television Road, Old Norwood Road and Maniece Avenue. A total area of one square kilometre.

It seems obvious that in an area of this size that there should be a school so that children can walk to school and not require school buses nor be driven by parents. Where are the people who promote active and safe routes to school? Have people not yet accepted that there is a global warming problem? Should subdivisions still be designed for cars?

Nobody has come forward yet to promote a school site for this subdivision. Robert Lapum Langton Street