Agenda and minutes

CHAIRMAN

The Chairman welcomed Ms Hamilton to the meeting and asked for a round of introductions.

Both the Chairman and Councillor Weatherston explained that although they had visited the nursery which was referred to in the petition they felt that this did not prejudice their ability to objectively consider the petition being presented and therefore did not declare an interest in terms of Section 5 of the Councillors Code of Conduct.

DECISION

NOTED.

Minute of Meeting of 1 March 2016 to be noted and signed by the Chairman (copy attached).

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of 1 March 2016.

DECISION

APPROVED and signed by the Chairman.

Note meeting procedure (copy of extract from the Scottish Borders Council Petitions Procedure attached).

There had been circulated copies of an extract from the Scottish Borders Council Petitions Procedure which set out the process to be followed at the meeting.

DECISION

NOTED.

4.1       There had been circulated copies of a petition, submitted to the Council on 29 March 2016, entitled ‘Road Safety on Spylaw Road’.  The form was accompanied by 126 signatures in total.  There had also been circulated copies of a briefing note by the Depute Chief Executive (Place) which was in response to the petition.  The Principal Petitioner, Seonaid Blackie, was the owner of Castlegate Nursery and out-of-school club on Spylaw Road in Kelso, and Ms Hamilton was in attendance to present the petition on her behalf.  In a statement accompanying the petition it was explained that there was concern about the speed of traffic driving past the nursery premises which were situated approximately half way along Spylaw Road.  This was a wide, no-through road with a combination of commercial and private traffic to, for example,  a Council depot, Border Concrete, an exercise gym and haulage yard.  Parents’ absolute best intention was always to keep their children with them at all times, but they had huge concerns that if their child got away from them the possibility of a resulting accident was greatly increased by the speed and sometimes poor driving of those passing.  The nursery owner had previously asked for road signage to be considered but on review by the Council and Police Scotland this had been turned down.  The owner understood that Castlegate was a private nursery but there was provision for approximately 130 families on a weekly basis.  It was suggested that as the Council provided signage for schools and 20 mph limits at peak times it would seem arbitrary for the nursery not to be considered for similar measures.  The statement referred to the previous advice from the Council that ‘general guidance for school signage did not apply to nurseries where the children were almost exclusively escorted to and from the premises’.  In response it was emphasised that parents often had more than one child with them and that very young children did not yet understand the danger of running away from their parent.  It was suggested that the number of signatures with the petition clearly emphasised the concern of parents, staff and visitors to the premises. 

4.2       In support of the statement Ms Hamilton explained that she had run the nursery business with her mother Seonaid Blackie for the past 23 years and they had been in the premises on Spylaw Road for the last 9-10 years.  She gave further information about the key concerns of parents in relation to the speed of passing traffic, much of this being HGV traffic to commercial premises.  She added that even when children were taken out wearing high visibility vests drivers failed to reduce their speed.  Ms Hamilton asked why, when Council premises such as schools were provided with signage there was no such facility to keep children safe in the case of a nursery. With regard to the traffic monitoring carried out by the Council she believed the average of speeds recorded would not be a true  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.