Decision details

(i)            to approve recommendation (i) and (iv) as contained in the report;

(ii)          in order to support the transition to the new school, to approve Option 2a as detailed in the report with the addition of the provision of a supported bus service between Cove and Lochside Academy with pupils paying a fare to use the service to take effect from August 2018 and initially for a period of 3 years subject to approval of appropriate funding by the Finance, Policy and Resources Committee and to instruct the Interim Head of Planning and Sustainable Development to report to the appropriate Committee on the proposed fare to be paid by pupils from Cove for approval;

(iii)         to note the concerns of parents from Torry, Kincorth and Cove expressed at the consultation meetings about the safety of pupils leaving service buses at stops on Wellington Road rather than on the quieter Wellington Circle and therefore instructs the Interim Head of Planning and Sustainable Development to discuss such adjustments to the routes of service buses 3/3G, 18 and the new supported public services detailed in (iv) below as were necessary to ensure that Lochside Academy pupils were dropped off on Wellington Circle (or in the schools grounds if appropriate) at the start of the school day and picked up from Wellington Circle (or in the schools grounds if appropriate) at the end of the normal school day and to report back on the outcome of those discussions to the appropriate Committee;

(iv)         subject to approval of the required funding of amended Option 2a as detailed in (ii) above by the Finance, Policy and Resources Committee to (1) approve the total estimated expenditure per annum (as detailed in the exempt appendix as amended to include the costs of the supported bus service between Cove and Lochside Academy) for a period of 3 years as detailed in the report (2) delegate authority to the Interim Head of Planning and Sustainable Development following consultation with the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services, to undertake a tender process for the procurement and thereafter award for the delivery of a supported bus service to operate between Deeside Brae, Leggart, Balnagask and Lochside Academy from August 2018 and (3) delegate authority to the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services to conclude a contract with the successful bidder;

(v)          to note the concerns expressed by Cove parents during the consultation meetings about the safety of the identified safe routes to school for the approximately 265 Cove Lochside Academy pupils;

(vi)         to instruct the Head of Public Infrastructure and Environment to carry out a study and option appraisal and budget analysis for the following measures in respect of safe walking routes to school for pupils residing in Coveand to report the outcome to the appropriate Committee to ensure that these works, if approved, were implemented prior to the opening of Lochside Academy:

(a)  Puffin crossing at an estimated cost of £30-35k[1] on Cove Road to ensure the safety of pupils crossing this road with the location of the crossing determined in consultation with local Elected Members, Parent Councils and the Community Council;

(b)  Puffin crossing in the vicinity of Langdykes Road at an estimated cost of £30-35k1to ensure the safety of pupils crossing this road with the location of the crossing determined in consultation with local Elected Members, Parent Councils and the Community Council;

(c)  Investigate the adoption of the land between Charleston Drive and Charleston Crescent and the subsequent upgrading and lighting of the footpath at an estimated cost of £30-35k1 (works only not inclusive of the purchase of any land) as a route away from vehicular traffic for pupils to use travelling to and from the new Lochside Academy;

(d)  Resolve drainage issues, and delivery of upgraded lighting, on South Loirston Road as an identified safe route to the New Lochside Academy at an estimated cost of £25k1 (street lighting only);

(e)  Consider the installation of barriers between the pavement and road on Wellington Road, between Souter-Head Roundabout and the junctions of both Charleston Road North and Wellington Circle.

(vii)        to note the concerns expressed by parents in Torry, Kincorth and Cove about speeding on roads identified as safe walking routes to Lochside Academy and further note that enforcement of speeding restrictions was the responsibility of Police Scotland;

(viii)      to instruct the Head of Education and Inclusion to facilitate a meeting between representatives of the parent councils in Kincorth, Torry and Cove with appropriate representatives from Police Scotland to provide a greater understanding of the community concerns about speeding on the safe routes to Lochside Academy and discuss the measures that could be taken to address those concerns and to report back to the appropriate Committee on the outcomes from that meeting;

(ix)         to instruct the Head of Education and Inclusion to provide support to Lochside Academy’s six associated group primary schools to ensure appropriate road safety programmes were in place in those schools for P4-7 prior to Lochside Academy opening in August 2018 and to report back to the appropriate Committee on the need for additional road safety programmes in the associated group primaries thereafter;

(xii)        to agree that it was not the Committee’s view that a suitable safe walking route had been identified for pupils from Torry;

(xiii)      to instruct the Interim Head of Planning and Sustainable Development to concurrently enter into discussions with bus providers with a view to re-routing services in Torry to ensure that pupils were picked up from safe locations and to report back on the outcome of the discussions to the appropriate Committee;

(xiv)      instruct the Interim Head of Planning and Sustainable Development and Head of Policy, Resources and Performance to enter into discussions with the school Senior Management Team to ascertain whether the bus pass should be valid beyond the current hours of 07:00 to 18:00 to ensure pupil access to school related extra-curricular activities – with a report to be submitted to the next meeting of Education and Children’s Services Committee;

(xv)        to instruct the Head of Public Infrastructure and Environment to upgrade, as per planning conditions, the path which runs from the south end of Boyd Orr Avenue in a south east direction to Redmoss Road (noted as Core Path 82 on page 122 of the report) to improve the safe walking route from the southern end of Kincorth;

(xvi)      to request the Head of Public Infrastructure and Environment to report to the Communities, Housing and Infrastructure Committee for approval to undertake the necessary legal process to implement a loading ban in Wellington Circle to ensure traffic restrictions were in place between Lochside Academy and Wellington Road; and

(i)            to instruct the Interim Head of Planning and Sustainable Development and the Head of Public Infrastructure and Environment to undertake annual updates reviewing the success of the provision of the free bus travel and the safe routes to school, with the first review to be end undertaken in March 2019 and thereafter annually at the end of the third school term with the outcome of each review to be reported to the relevant Committee at the earliest possible opportunity prior to the end of the fourth school term each year.