Leith Primary Parents Campaign For Road Improvements

Parents from Leith Primary School are leading a campaign to pedestrianise some, or all, of St Andrews Place. Angus Miller, one of the parents involved writes:

"For several years parents of pupils at Leith Primary have been concerned about the road in front of our school, St Andrew Place. There have been two issues. First of all, the school uses the grass area on the other side of the road as a playing field, and would like to allow pupils to make more use of it, but the access to the grass is not very direct because of all the barriers.

The second issue is that the road is very congested at the beginning and end of the school day, and lots of traffic on other roads nearby make for a hazardous walk to school for some. The school travel plan encourages parents to park further away and let the children get some fresh air as they walk the last part of their journey; this isn't a popular option for a minority (resulting in less fresh air for all) and there are safety concerns due to the number of cars stopping outside the school, dropping off children who have to cross the road and climb over the barriers. Access to the bike racks in the school playground is poor, with cyclists and pedestrians constrained to a narrow pavement by barriers. Parents have been asking the Council to look at the situation for several years, and at last we feel our voice is being heard.

Proposals are now being put forward to pedestrianise at least part of St Andrew Place, creating a new public space in front of the school. It will take a while to achieve this but we've had support from local councillors, Leith Links Community Council, community police officers and key Council officials. We've got several ideas about how this new public space could be used, and we'd welcome suggestions - how about a skate park, or a sculpture garden? Or both? It would be good to see this space providing opportunities not just for the school, but for the wider community and fitting in to a wider plan to improve Leith Links."

Greener Leith can also be added to that list of supportive organisations. What do you think of these proposals?