Concerns raised about road safety outside Tyrone school

MAJOR concerns have been raised about the safety of a road outside a Tyrone school.

Issues regarding road safety outside St. Macartan’s Primary School in Clogher at a meeting this week of Mid Ulster District Council.

The local authority is to arrange a meeting with relevant stakeholders in response.

DUP councillor Mark Robinson stated at the meeting: “It’s in relation to St. Macartan’s Primary School in Clogher. They’ve had an ongoing issue with traffic accessing and egressing from the school, and it’s onto the A4, on a very dangerous bit of the hill.

“So they’ve sent through a request [to see] if there’s anything we can do as council in lobbying either Roads Service or some other department, to try and facilitate making this junction somewhat safer for parents and children, [when] dropping the children off and on at school.

“So it’s just to highlight the issue around it. I know it’s an issue in many areas. I’ve been working quite a bit in Fivemiletown with a similar sort of issue, where there are traffic problems, so it’s just to highlight that issue and see if there is anything we can do.

Mid Ulster District Council’s deputy chief executive and strategic director of Environment, Anne-Marie Campbell proved receptive to the request: “I got a copy of the letter. It’s not necessarily the council’s responsibility in terms of roads and access, but what we can do is try and facilitate or organise a meeting with DfI, the Education Authority, and any interested members in that particular area, and we’ll action that to see if at least we can start a conversation.”

Committee chair, SDLP councillor Christine McFlynn recommended the following course of action: “I’ll maybe make a suggestion, that this letter is sent round to the members in that particular DEA, and if we could facilitate a meeting with Roads Service, I suggest [they] would be the main leaders in it.

“The Education Authority might have an input in here as well with it. Anne-Marie will send that round to all the members in that area, and maybe we’ll try and get that facilitated.”