Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
New school site poses road danger to pupils
A Coatbridge councillor has expressed road safety concerns about the proposed relocation of St Kevin’s Primary.
Public consultation is now underway on moving pupils from their joint campus, shared with Bargeddie, to a new standalone school on the former Drumpark site in order to accommodate both schools’ rising pupil rolls.
Coatbridge West representative Caroline Stephen said people are worried about the prospect of youngsters negotiating the busy Coatbridge Road dual carriageway to reach the proposed site and called for school transport to be provided if the plans go ahead.
She said: “Additional consideration must be given to children walking to the proposed new-build school. I feel the route is wholly unsafe and it’s seen a fatality in the past.
“I welcome the plans to provide the children of Bargeddie with a new school but my main concern is their safety and I’ll do whatever I can to ensure that the council act in their best interests, including demanding that the council consider providing school transport.”
Councillor Stephen told the Advertiser: “The concerns I’m getting from constituents are about having to cross the main road, with its traffic coming down off the motorway.
“It’s far too dangerous to let primary school children cross.
“These are things that can be put forward in the public consultation and at the public meeting and I’m encouraging everybody to take part, put their views across and be heard.”
She added that local residents also have concerns about relocating to the new site and want to ensure that the close partnership between St Kevin’s and Bargeddie, built up during their decade at the shared campus on Langmuir Road, is maintained.
North Lanarkshire Council is consulting on building a new 242-pupil school as St Kevin’s is already over capacity.
Pupil numbers at both schools are projected to keep rising due to the extensive housebuilding in the Bargeddie area.
A public meeting on the proposals will take place at the joint campus on December 11 and the consultation runs until January 15.