Special school ‘slips through the cracks’ following significant delays responding to road safety queries
A Stormont department has apologised for letting a Lisburn special school “slip through the cracks”.
Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) held a special meeting with the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) to address winter service concerns for the “most vulnerable members of society”.
No seasonal road gritting at Brookfield School has seen concerns raised for pupils and emergency services in icy conditions, but DfI has refused to grit the road, stating a need for a “fundamental review” of its policy.
Councillor John Laverty said: “Can I say from the outset how disappointing it is to have to ask you (DfI) back in again after we held a meeting on November 18 (2024) and I specifically asked about Brookfield School and the gritting.
“I have since had to ask a number of times in council if we have had a DfI response.
“I notice that you have said (in a report to council) it was an administrative error or issue, and I don’t know what that means.
“That to me is a very, very poor excuse and one that I am not prepared to accept.
“This is a school with the most vulnerable members of society that attend it.
“It is important for these people to know they can travel to school safely.
“The school has also highlighted that there are times when the emergency services are required to attend and there have been times when it has been very difficult due to the inclement weather with no gritting.”
DfI deputy secretary, Colin Woods replied: “I apologise that you didn’t get the answers that you were looking for.
“We have had a number of key staff who have been off work for quite some time and it fell through the cracks. And that’s not a good answer.
“We are here to offer you an apology for that oversight.
“On Brookfield Special School, one of my children attends a special school, so I understand the issue you raise and the importance of access.
“Our position, where we find ourselves, is that we deploy a significant amount of money in the region of about £7m to deliver winter service and that targets 28% of the roads that carry 80% of the traffic. And that’s the best we can deliver.
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean we can then provide the type of access and precautionary gritting that we would like to on every route.
“The proximity of the school to the A3, which is gritted, means that essentially it’s on that part of the network that we are not able to grit.
“I appreciate that it is frustrating and why that wouldn’t be a good answer.
“In the interests of being as open as I can with you, that’s the position until such times as we have a fundamental review of our winter service policy to expand the coverage, which would take more resources than we currently have, then that is likely to remain the answer.”
Mr Laverty responded: “I think it is very poor that we are citing that we don’t have some money.
"It is a small area and I just find it totally unacceptable that we cannot provide the gritting to enable those who attend and those who support the pupils with road safety over the winter months.”