Reid wins Council reassessment of walking route for Mid Argyll school children

Alan Reid, Argyll and Bute’s MP, has taken sustained issue with Argyll and Bute Council because it does not pay for the bus fares of children living in Ardrishaig but destined to attend school in Lochgilphead.

The Council instead deems the distance of about two and a half miles to be walkable and the route along Argyll’s arterial trunk road, the A83, safe for them to use.

The new joint campus including the primary, secondary and special needs schools means that children from Ardrishaig of all ages and abilities are expected to walk virtually from one side of Loch Gilp to the other.

This stage of the A83. from Ardrishaig to Lochgilphead and on towards Lochgair, may be the main road through the county from Loch Lomond to Campbeltown on the Mull of Kintyre, but this stretch, like others, is quite narrow.

It is covered by a 30mph speed limit through both towns and a 40 mph speed limit between them. The Council’s risk assessment is based on this as the upper limit and has concluded that a speed of 8.2 seconds for a child to cross this road at appointed places guarantees safety from a car approaching at 40mph.

Mr Reid makes the point that it is unsafe to assume that traffic using the road sticks to this maximum speed and, from our own regular observations, this is certainly a valid concern.

Persistence has won Mr Reid a further apparent rejection in a letter from Nigel Stewart, the Council’s Director of Corporate services but that may simply be the stern style of writing.

The letter, written on 7th January, does contain the statement: ‘I can confirm however that a re-assessment of the route has been instructed and will take place before the end of January and I will confirm the result of that re-assessment to you in due course’.

This will be good news for the local parents and pupils whose campaign for a free school bus service Alan Reid is backing.

It has to be said that, in any common sense view, the route between the two places is indeed too long and dangerous for pupils to be expected to walk.

Addtitionally. in the bad weather that is so often the case, it would be impossible for children to struggle two and a half miles in wind and driving rain and arrive fit for lessons.

Such weather conditions also reduce visibility for drivers and pedestrians alike and  encourage, even adults, to cross roads hurriedly and without due care and attention.

Mr Reid has carried out his own survey of the reality of the risks of the route. It was his submission of this, in a letter refusing to accept a previous rejection of his case by Council officer, Malcom MacFadyen, that has elicited the information tat a re-assessment is to be made.

Mr Stewart’s information on the re-assessment indicates a realisation that there is a case to be heard. This is a positive movement in an overly defensive Council culture which often seems to be focused on repelling boarders rather than engaging in open consultation.