Concerns raised for school bus travelling Top Swire road in winter
Swire Road, Ettrick, to be used as a bus route.
CONCERNS have been expressed about the winter conditions that might have to be braved by the driver of The Valleys school bus, following the decision to mothball Ettrick Primary School earlier this year.
The area’s smallest primary closed its doors at the start of the summer holidays as no children were enrolled for the new school year, which started last month.
Scottish Borders Council had to give the permanent driver of the school bus on the Ettrick Primary run the first refusal of the work in Yarrow after the closure of the school, as the driver of the Yarrow bus was only on a fixed period contract which ended when the schools broke up for the summer.
“The driver in Ettrick decided to take up that option,” the local authority told The Wee Paper this week.
However, concerns were expressed this week that the single driver, who has to now service both valleys, will have to cross the Top Swire road, which can be treacherous in winter as it is not salted or ploughed by the council.
SBC’s passenger transport manager, Colin Douglas, assured us: “The bus will be fitted with winter tyres and the driver is well used to driving on rural roads in winter conditions, so we do not expect any problems in her driving over the Top Swire.
“The route is being assessed for priority gritting/snow clearing in the current review of the winter maintenance plan.
“We have a number of spare buses and drivers based in Selkirk and they would be able to cover the work in Yarrow if we got exceptional weather conditions as we encountered in 2010-11.”
However, Councillor Gordon Edgar (Selkirkshire, Ind), who is also the council’s executive member for roads and infrastructure, says the school bus having to cross the Top Swire in winter will cause concern.
“It’s definitely not an ideal situation,” Mr Edgar told us this week.
“The Top Swire is not salted, gritted or ploughed during the winter and it can suffer from really bad weather conditions.
“So there will be some concerns there, but SBC will have to take every measure to ensure youngsters can get to school and get to school safely – it’s as simple as that.”
Mr Edgar’s fellow Selkirkshire councillor, Vicky Davidson (Lib Dem), who lives in the Ettrick Valley, agreed the Top Swire road can get “quite difficult” in the winter because of its location high up in the Selkirkshire valleys, but agreed it would probably be looked at with a view to reclassifying as a priority route for gritting in winter because of the school bus changes.
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Weather for Selkirk
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 8 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 3 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: North west
