Call for 20MPH speed limit on Brae

As previously reported, South Lanarkshire Council, faced with finding savings, wants to cut £600,000 from its schools transport budget by extending the distance secondary pupils live from school to qualify for free transport from two miles to three.

One of the routes this would affect would be the outskirts of Kirkfieldbank to Lanark Grammar School and parents campaigning against the council proposal held a demonstration march on that road earlier this year to highlight what they see as its dangers for youngsters walking to and from school.

Their major concern is safety on Kirkfieldbank Brae with its narrow, uneven pavements and heavy traffic.

Now the council has deemed the route safe for children to walk on after the cuts come into effect next April.

One Lanark area councillor, the SNP’s Vivienne Shaw, has called for the speed limit on The Brae - part of the busy A72 Clyde Valley road - to be halved.

She told the Gazette this week: “I have asked the council to carry out a re-assessment of The Brae speed limit with a view to lowering it from 40mph to 20mph.

“I have serious concerns about children trying to walk The Brae. Not only is the fencing broken down in several places, which could cause a child to fall over the edge into the valley below if jostled walking two astride on the narrow pavements, but children are facing heavy traffic coming at speed down the hill. The route is not safe for youngsters walking. I have asked that at least the fencing be repaired and the speed limit reduced.

“Parents have said that, understandably, they would not risk letting their children attempt this walk.”