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| Narrow entrance roadway to Barnhill Primary School |
At the Education Committee on Monday evening 29 October, we considered a report on the proposed £1.9 million extension to Barnhill Primary School. This report spelled out the improvements to the school in addition to the original four classrooms that had been proposed.
I welcomed this report because I had backed the Parent Council in advocating that to adequately raise the capacity of this school, the Council would need to add more than four classrooms. I am delighted therefore that this report provides more nursery places and expansion to other facilities such as the dining hall which would otherwise be pinch points in a school with a higher intake.
While this is very satisfactory, I wanted to make a plea about safe access to the building site during the contract period. This had been informed by my prior meeting with the City Architect.
The entrance to Barnhill Primary School is on Falkland Crescent. The only current vehicular access to the school site is from Falkland Crescent and comprises a narrow roadway about the same width as a domestic driveway with just room for one car travelling one way. It runs parallel with a pathway for pedestrians which is fenced off. The roadway is currently used by staff to access their car parking spaces, the Janitor accessing his house, visitors to the school and parents dropping off children at the nursery. The pathway is the principal pedestrian access point for pupils and their parents/carers. The plan was apparently to also use this narrow road for the construction site access during the building works.
I requested that, in the interests of pupil safety, the design team should explore the feasibility of an alternative separate vehicular access to the building site in order to meet best practice advice arising from The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.
The Education Convener agreed that this would be explored.
