The busy town bypass beside the new build school, the Westway, was a clear danger to the children and would be exceptionally difficult to be made safe for a school of 500 primary age children.

The Council argue that the road could be made safe and that they have hired consultants who have produced plans for this. These plans were to be finalised after approval was given for the new school.

So the Angus administration is asking the parents, the Arbroath electorate, HMIE fellow councillors and the Education Secretary to buy a pig in a poke in a matter as fundamental as child safety?

The fact that Westway is not dualled makes it even more dangerous. The proposal dreamed up by the hired consultants – and which the Angus Roads Department are openly unhappy with – is to install speed bumps and an unmanned Puffin crossing which operates with sensors to turn the lights red if a child is still on the crossing. The Roads Safety officer says that 20 drop off spaces will never accommodate all the traffic at 8:45 and 3:30.

The Roads Department highlights the problems of installing speed bumps on a road which is regularly used by 40 tonne grain lorries and major oil industry traffic, at the same time as having a dedicated cycle lane, double yellows, school zig-zags, 20mph limit signs, school crossing signs, two school entry/leaving points, access to a housing estate and a busy staggered junction – all in the space of 100 metres.

The school is to have the grand total of 20 drop off spaces for 500 pupils – alongside 40 nursery kids and playgroup kids.

Very few parents will allow their kids to walk to this school, leading inevitably to traffic waiting at the kerbside regardless of zig-zags, double yellows or anything else.

They expect this to happen on both sides of the road leaving only narrow gaps for the normal traffic flow – on the busy town bypass – to pass through.

HMIE described parental concerns on the traffic as ‘understandable’.

They also said that the Council had not demonstrated educational advantage but nevertheless came to their own conclusion that the proposal was a good idea.

And this is the national inspectorate for schools whose independent and high level professionalism we are supposed to respect?

It has to be said that HMIE’s performance throughout this Scotland-wide school closure process is fast making its views irreparably damaged currency.

A few weeks ago Councillor Myles made a home visit to one of the parents concerned for child safety on Westway.

Bizarrely, he insisted that crossing this road would be good practice for the children concerned, as they would encounter busier roads later in life. His attitude was something like: ‘Well, if he gets through this, he’ll be fit for anything later on.’

The parent in question couldn’t believe what he was hearing and later asked for clarification on this approach from Councillor Myles, who obligingly put it in writing.

He said: ‘The point I was trying to make was the Westway and other busy roads exist and will continue to exist no matter where schools are sited. It is therefore important we educate our children at the earliest opportunity the merits of Road Safety. I would have thought instruction & supervision from traffic crossing officials and experience of pedestrian crossings on a regular basis would give them an experience and knowledge of road safety that would stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives.’

 FOI revelations

In August 2010 the Roads Department of Angus Council were asked to comment on the road safety aspects of the chosen site for the new school.

They concluded that no design of school could make the road safe and that it was impossible to prevent school traffic from backing up onto one of the busiest roads in Angus causing hazard alike to child and adult pedestrians and to vehicles using the road.

Andy Barnes, Traffic Engineer, Roads Division said, on 31/08/2010: ‘However, no design will keep the adjacent public roads clear of waiting vehicles at pick up and drop off periods, especially for a school of this capacity.

‘As such it is a matter of also considering the impact that parking on the local road network and in this instance the impact will be unacceptably high on Westway given the nature of the road along with the volumes and type of traffic regularly using the route.’

On 24^th May 2011, the Roads Department wrote – with reference to the plan to install speed humps:

‘Firstly speed humps/cushions do not seem entirely appropriate for a road of this nature. As previously stated this is a designated alternative/diversion route for HGV and high sided vehicles which cannot be accommodated on the A92 due to the low bridge at Dundee Road.

‘Westway is also a bus route and provides access to and from to the main industrial estates at Kirkton and Elliot with relatively high volumes of through HGV and general car traffic.

‘Notwithstanding the above, the introduction of road humps/cushions in a road should have some kind of speed reduction feature such as a road junction, road bend etc. on the approach to the traffic calmed of road’.

On this last point, the Westway is an almost straight road, with the only junctions which would slow traffic sited at either end – each up to a mile from the school access.

The Roads Department could not be clearer about the situation – note the date: long after HMIE report and after the end of the consultation process. This had been withheld by the administration from that process.

In response to the consultants’ report that was commissioned by the education department, the Council’s own road safety experts were again highly critical of what was proposed.

It was discovered that a traffic survey had shown that:

• 8500 vehicles a day were using the road (8.5% of them HGVs)
• almost half the children would have to cross the road.

Traffic volumes were expected to increase markedly with a new supermarket and industrial estate extension approved by – Angus councillors.

No other school in Angus is built on a road carrying this type of traffic.

This is the environment Councillor Myles thinks is appropriate for 4 year olds to be exposed to in order to hone their Green Cross Code.

The roads department responses were supplied long before Councillor Myles made the visit to the parent’s home, pushing his opinion that this road was safe for that parent’s 4 year old son.

NOTE: Read the detail for yourself

The lead story, of which this is an investigation detail, is: Miles more on Myles: Angus Council, FOI and Arbroath Schools Review.

Choose which other parts of this investigation you wish to read in detail and in what order. Most are short – but for obvious reasons the piece on the FOI revelations on the two ‘public surveys” is more extensive.

• The Arbroath School Estate Review
• The scandal of the public opinion surveys
• Costs and funding of the proposed new school
• The educational benefit of a primary ‘superschool‘ of 500 pupils
• Cheaper and more cost effective alternatives
• Traffic risk to small children on the Westway town bypass
• Council determination to proceed with this project at all costs
• The political situation at Angus Council