£150,000 for safer access to Peebles High School

Tuesday, June 13 2006

Scottish Borders Council has today (13 June 2006) announced a £150,000 investment at Peebles High School to address health and safety concerns on vehicle and pedestrian access to the school.

Work will begin this financial year on the development of a School Travel Plan which will inform the design and preparation for the work at the school. Construction work to provide safer separation routes between vehicles and pupils will be undertaken over the summer holidays in 2007.

Development of the travel plan provides the ideal opportunity to fully audit all pedestrian and vehicle movements and work with stakeholders to pursue the best solution for all.

It will encourage active travel such as walking, cycling or even 'park and stride' which will in turn lead to improved health and fitness for students, parents and staff at the school.

This will also have huge benefits for local residents as it has the potential to reduce congestion in the network of road around and leading to the school.

Commenting on this good news, Peebles High School head teacher, John Brown, said:

"This will be a joint effort from all our school stakeholders but in particular, our students will have the opportunity to shape and create their own safe environment around the school."

The involvement of students in the travel plans is a proven and successful route to increase knowledge and awareness of environmental, health and community issues and has in other areas helped strengthen relationships between the school and the local community.

A school safety team is being established to meet regularly and take this forward. The team will comprise:

Head teacher
Parents
Students
Teachers
Lothian & Borders Police Road Safety Officer and the local Community Officer
Local residents
A representative from First Bus
Scottish Borders Council's School Travel Co-ordinator
The Elected members for Tweeddale

"The first stage is a detailed audit of current practices and identification of areas of concern," said Jenny Bagnall, SBC School Travel Co-ordinator. "From this our engineers will design improvement to access and the roads leading to the school. This is likely to include new parking bays, safer areas for buses and dedicated pedestrian areas."

Editor's Note
For more information, contact Tracey Graham, Communications Assistant, on 01835 825090, ext 5461.

Reference: News-14750, Contact the Author