At September’s meeting of the Naas Municipal Council I had a motion down which would see a traffic warden or lollipop lady be placed on the Sallins Road, Naas at school times to facilitate crossing of children and parents to the Scoil Bhride back gate. I raised this motion in response to several queries from parents at that school who have to cross the busy Sallins Road to get their children into school. While there is a pedestrian crossing further up the road, most parents use the back gate of the school which cuts the journey time by 10 or 15 minutes and it is understandable with young children that parents would wish to avail of this shorter route. As councillors we need to make this route as safe as possible for parents and their young kids.

I was told there is no budget for a lollipop lady but we can consider this in our own budget for 2016. In positive news I spoke with the roads design section of council who confirmed that there is a pedestrian crossing planned on that road when the next set of houses at Oldtown Demesne are constructed. This will be a condition of planning that the developer funds a crossing on the Sallins road. It will enable children from Oldtown cross to Monread park and children from Morell and the other Oldtown cross to the school. I will continue to monitor these conditions to make sure they are brought to fruition.