A safer route to school for children’s at a West Lothian primary school is set to be created after a campaign by parents.
Work will start in the Autumn to redevelop the route used by many pupils at St Mary’s Primary in Bathgate.
Pupils and parents at St Mary’s Primary had put together a petition of more than 300 signatures asking for safety improvements on the walking route from Wester Inch to the school on Whitburn Road.
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Lisa Constanza, the chair of the parent council, addressed the council last Autumn to highlight the issues of choked pavement spaces and busy roads. The town centre location is particularly busy when children and on their way to and from schools as Whitburn road serves two town centre car parks as well as a direct road out of Bathgate.
Parents had also voiced fears about the speed of traffic, however surveys showed that recorded speeds were below 30mph and there are already existing speed control measures such as broad speed tables in the road.
An update of studies carried out by Sustrans and local roads officers was presented to the recent meeting of the council’s Environment Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel highlighting an initial £150,000 spend on widening choke points on the route.
The narrow pavement outside Bathgate’s Primary Care centre is to be widened to 2.5m, with a segregated cyclepath on the opposite side of the road planned to be delivered at a later date.
Other works will include Toucan crossings at the railway bridge where the cycle route NCN75 crosses Whitburn Road and just south of the roundabout at Menzies Road. The existing pelican crossing will be removed at the medical centre and a pedestrian island installed .
A report to committee by design engineering manager Ronnie Fisher said: “This will remove the obstacles of the traffic signal equipment and guardrail, which narrow the footway width at this location.
He added: “It is proposed that the footway improvements and segregated cycleway be phased separately. This will ensure that the footway widening is delivered quicker. It is anticipated that a contractor can be procured during the summer with works starting early Autumn.”
The schools’ campaign was supported by local councillors, Tory Charles Kennedy and Labour’s Harry Cartmill.
Mr Fisher said: “Officers will continue to work with Sustrans to finalise, in consultation with St Mary’s Primary and other stakeholders, the design of the improvements to the path network. It is hoped that the improvements can be delivered later this year.”
