Don’t leave us on slippery slope
PARENTS are angry that they and their children are having to scramble up a muddy embankment to get to a Motherwell school.
Now more than 100 signatures have been gathered for a petition calling on education bosses to improve access to Cathedral Primary from Braidhurst Street.
Despite the slippery slope, pupils, parents and even grandparents use the treacherous shortcut rather than walk along Milton Street or an take an alternative route via the Greenlink path behind the school.
Petition organiser Catherine Gallagher said that when people are pushed for time they would rather risk falling or getting their shoes muddy if it saves them five or 10 minutes.
Mrs Gallagher, who has grandchildren at the school, said she approached many families in the area around Braidhurst Street and Wood Crescent, and the response to her petition shows the strength of feeling.
The new Cathedral Primary opened last year and the prolonged wet weather of recent months has prompted the demand for action.
Mrs Gallagher said: “Before the school was built there was a path with steps leading from the end of Braidhurst Street to the park that was there.
“We’d like something similar built so that people don’t have to take the long way up Milton Street or the Greenlink path which can get icy.”
A grandparent struggling to keep her feet on the muddy slope backed the petition, saying: “It’s ridiculous just now.
“You get home after walking the kids to school and find your shoes are covered in muck while pupils get ticked off by the teachers because their shoes are dirty. It’s not even winter yet!”
It’s understood the issue was raised by parents when the school opened in the summerof last year, but North Lanarkshire Council was unwilling to construct a new path because the slope was too steep and it would not be accessible for disabled people.
A council spokesman said: “Any petition received will be dealt with in line with our procedure for dealing with petitions and will go to the appropriate committee.”
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Weather for Motherwell, Scotland
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North west
