Crossing survey results ‘a real blow’

A BUCKIE councillor has expressed his disappointment that a new pedestrian crossing near Millbank Primary looks unlikely to go ahead. There have been various calls over the years to install a new pedestrian crossing in High Street, close to the school to help children and local people safely cross, but the results from a recent Moray Council survey appear to cast doubt on the scheme going ahead. Councillor Tim Eagle described the news as a “real blow” for many parents. “Since I became a councillor in 2017, several parents and the PTA of Millbank Primary have asked me to highlight the need for a pedestrian crossing on the High Street near to Milbank Primary School,” he said. “I have asked about the potential for this crossing several times and pushed again for this not long ago to the transportation manager to see what could be done. There is some developer obligation funding available in Buckie and the hope was this could be used to install the new crossing.” “Prior to any work like this it is common practice for a survey to be done to assess the need for the
crossing, This was carried out on January 29 and to my surprise the results that the transportation team have come back with indicate that there is not a need for the crossing. During the survey four areas were looked at split between Highfield Road and the entrance to Linzee Gordon Park and over a 12-hour period the highest number of people crossing at any point of the four locations was eight. “Based on the figures the transportation team have said it would be difficult to
justify spending money on a crossing. This is a real blow as I know the parents who do cross the High Street do find it difficult at times to get across. I have let the school PTA know about this and I
urge any parent to come forward and let me know if they think this result should be looked at again.” The four areas looked at were: Highfield Road to Cameron Crescent (total people crossing during period 34); Cameron Crescent to High Street access road (14); Steinbeck Road to High Street service road access (32); High Street service road access to Linzee Gordon Park access (23).