Debate contribution: Public Petition: Safe Crossing at Lough View Integrated Primary and Nursery School
Debate contribution by Ms Paula Bradshaw on .
- MLA
- Ms Paula Bradshaw
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 19 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Assembly Business
- Heading
- Public Petition: Safe Crossing at Lough View Integrated Primary and Nursery School
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5795385
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. I am pleased to present the petition, which was organised by Lough View parents' council and has been signed by 1,084 people. It calls for the installation of a safe designated school crossing on Church Road outside Lough View Integrated Primary and Nursery School to protect pupils, parents, carers and the wider school community. I start by welcoming the staff, pupils and parents to the Public Gallery, and, specifically, I thank the principal, Mr Spillane and the Lough View parents' council for their years of hard work in campaigning on the issue. Their efforts reflect the strength of feeling across the school community, and I commend them for their efforts in pushing for this action.
Improved pedestrian safety around the school has been a long-running concern. Church Road is in a semi-rural location and serves two primary schools — not just Lough View but Leadhill Primary School — a nursery unit and two private childcare businesses, resulting in significant traffic during school drop-off and collection times. A designated school crossing would benefit not only Lough View's pupils but all the other young people going about their business on Church Road in the morning. The layout of Church Road makes the road safety situation even more perilous. The road rises towards the top of the hill in one direction and curves in the other, thus restricting visibility for drivers and pedestrians. Parked cars further limit visibility, and concerns remain about the speed at which vehicles are travelling. Notably, in recent months, 20 mph signage with flashing lights has been erected outside the school, but it appears that that is having little impact on drivers' speed. Disturbingly, on numerous occasions, parents have reported to me near misses outside the schools, including incidents where drivers have dangerously overtaken slow-moving or stationary traffic at school drop-off times. Those reports underline the need to address this serious issue before someone is seriously hurt. I also want to highlight the planned improvements to pedestrian access to Lough View Integrated Primary and Nursery School as part of the Department of Education's minor works schemes. I have written to the Education Minister to ask for an update on those improvements. I urge the Department for Infrastructure to work with the school, parents and the wider community to assess the risks and bring forward the necessary steps for a designated school crossing. I share others' condemnation of the disruption to schools this morning, Lough View being one of them. It was highly reckless, and I join others in calling on the Department of Education and the Education Authority to provide greater clarity to schools on what needs to happen next.
446 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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