The safety of young people when travelling to and from school is a critically important issue.
On the local streets in close proximity to schools in East Renfrewshire, it is vital for all necessary road safety measures to be in place to provide parents with confidence that their children will be protected when arriving in the morning and leaving in the afternoon.
To that end, I was seriously concerned to learn that the new school term had started at St Joseph’s Primary in August, without any crossing patroller in position on nearby Eaglesham Road, and to assist pupils with making it safely across the road.
Eaglesham Road can be a busy carriageway, especially at peak travel times, with a high volume of traffic and cars continually passing on both sides of the road.
Whilst there is a crossing present on the section of Eaglesham Road that is close to St Joseph’s and particularly when considering the prevailing traffic conditions, it nonetheless remains important for a crossing patroller to be in place so that there is additional support for primary school children.
The absence of a crossing patroller naturally prompted safety fears from parents and there was a frustration that the school term had commenced without this added safeguard in place for their children.
The matter was raised with me directly as the constituency MSP for Eastwood and I made prompt representation to East Renfrewshire Council’s Education Service.
In my initial communication to the council, I highlighted the considerable concerns of parents and requested that the council act to put in place a new crossing patroller on Eaglesham Road to support pupils from St Joseph’s.
The Education Service sent a response to advise that the roads team had marked the issue as a priority and with arrangements to be made to introduce a new patroller on the road.
The issue may have been marked as a priority but sadly, there was no immediate and permanent resolution to this road safety problem.
In the intervening weeks, I continued to make representation to the council’s Education Service to highlight that it was critical for a crossing patroller to be put in place on Eaglesham Road, as a matter of urgency.
In the first half of November, I then received an update from the council to set out that a new crossing patroller for Eaglesham Road had now been appointed but they were yet to start in the post.
The time lag in appointment to on-site start date related to HR processes and delivering the required training to allow the crossing patroller to perform effectively and successfully in the role.
On top of the initial November response, I received a quick further update to confirm that the individual appointed to the post had started the necessary training and the aim was for the new crossing patroller to be in place within the next week.
I have since received communications from parents to inform me that the patroller is now present on Eaglesham Road.
I am relieved that this long-standing issue has finally reached a successful conclusion, with a crossing patroller again in position on Eaglesham Road, to help pupils of St Joseph’s Primary complete their journey to and from school safely.
