Elsie Lange
Woodend’s St Ambrose Primary School principal Bronwyn Phillips has been waiting years for safety crossings near her school to be built – so has the whole community.
On National Walk Safely to School Day on May 22, parents, kids, teachers and other concerned locals took to the streets to rally for Macedon Ranges council (MRSC) to deliver the safe walkways they’ve been waiting for.
“We have had multiple close calls and near miss incidents,” Ms Phillips said.
“The community is very frustrated because the council has failed to allocate adequate funds and follow through with what they said they would do.”
The school sits on Templeton Street, which intersects at different points with Urquart and Brooke streets – both very busy as kids get to and from school.
Two years ago, the school presented the council with a petition of more than 150 signatures asking for a crossing over Brooke street, where a crest limits the view of pedestrians and hardly gives enough time to stop.
Council responded to questions from the community at a meeting on Wednesday, May 25, and said while funding had been allocated in the 2021-22 budget for the Brooke Street crossing, design complications had arisen, pushing back the process.
The funding originally allocated for Brooke Street works was re-allocated to the crossing next to the school at Urquart Street, while design works at Brooke Street continue – these works are set to be completed in the July school holidays.
MRSC assets and operations director Shane Walden said a consulting engineer proposed a “two-stage approach” for the Brooke and Templeton streets intersection.
“Stage one consists of a vehicle slow point on top of the rise to the east of the Brooke and Templeton street intersection, and stage two consists of an upgrade to the Brooke and Templeton street intersection,” Mr Walden said.
“Council has advised the school that stage one and two of the project are pending approval in the 2022-23 council budget funding – although not currently included in the draft budget – and if funded the stages would be delivered over two years.”
Ms Phillips said she feels the process has dragged on for too long, as they were told “it was going to happen by June”.
“It’s just another year and nothing’s happened … we really want assurance that they’re going to allocate adequate money to do this properly,” Ms Phillips said.
