A popular plan for a new primary school car park in West Belfast has been agreed by Belfast Councillors after a headmaster said it was a matter of “when and not if a child is hurt" by traffic on the Springfield Road.
The application had been delayed from last year for councillors to have a site visit, but at the recent meeting of Belfast City Council ’s Planning Committee, elected representatives unanimously agreed the provision of a car park with 24 spaces for Springfield Primary School, including access road and fencing.
The site is at 425 Springfield Road, and the application is by the Colin Bingham Education Authority, Armagh. The plan involves a new turn off from a nearby roundabout into the planned car park.
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The application was recommended by council officers despite running contrary to council policy on issues of loss of zoned economic land, loss of open space, access, movement, parking, drainage and flood risk.
School Principal Mr Osborne told the committee: “I go out twice in the morning and once in the afternoon and see cars actually trying to drive around the lollipop lady as children are crossing the road. We have seven car park spaces plus one disabled spot.
“We have tried everything, we have tried to supervise children in the playground, nothing seems to be working. We have one area in the school for bicycles, which we provided ourselves. We are continually trying to encourage the children to cycle to school, but then they are having to cycle on Springfield road, one of the arterial routes into Belfast.”
He said: “After the pandemic, our school was chosen for the minister to come and welcome back the children. Two days before, death riders had taken out a telegraph pole just outside the school, and I had to arrange on the weekend to have it all cleared, for the minister and media to come. This is constant.”
He said: “Our children come for the Breakfast Club, and they are walking on the hill as staff are trying to arrive at school to park. That is on top of the cars going along the Springfield Road that time of the morning going to work.
“Seven spaces plus one disabled for the staff for the drop off for all of those things - it’s not enough.”
He added: “For me it’s not if a child gets hurt, it is when. Our lollipop lady has had to pull children as the cars fly down the Springfield Road. And they really don’t have any care. The PSNI came to us in September and they were in shock at what they were witnessing.”
The council planning report states: “The loss of employment land is relatively small and there is ample supply of employment land in the area. (It) is considered to be outweighed by the benefits of the scheme in terms of improving highway safety for children, parents and staff, and reducing congestion during peak hours. In the planning balance, the proposal is considered acceptable.”
The Stormont Department for Infrastructure Roads and Rivers divisions made no objection to the proposal, subject to conditions. No third-party objections were received in relation to the proposal from residents or business.
235 letters of support were received, which include 26 letters from members of staff, individual letters from pupils and parents, two emails from parents to the headmaster raising concerns with safety, a group letter from the pupils council, a letter from the governor of Springfield Primary School and a letter from family support groups.
The council planning report summarised the support, stating: “Springfield Road as a main arterial route experiences a large volume of accidents, speeding cars and car crashes which is exacerbated by the neighbour police and fire stations and college. Children’s safety should override zoning issues.
“On-going complaints from neighbours regarding parking – the off-road parking should be favourably considered. Between December 2010 and November 2020, 186 road casualties took place between Isadore Avenue and Mill Race, according to PSNI statistics. Lack of parking forces cars to park along the road which forces prams and wheelchairs off the footpath onto the road. This proposal creates a safe drop off/ pick up area for children.”
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