Wednesday, 20 March 2019

 Mr ANGUS (Forest Hill) (19:15): (395) I raise a matter of importance for the attention of the Minister for Roads. The action I seek is for the minister to ensure enough funding is provided to the City of Whitehorse to enable it to continue funding all the supervised school crossings in Whitehorse, in particular the supervised school crossing at St Timothy’s Primary School in Vermont. The principal of that school recently received a letter from the City of Whitehorse dated 20 February 2019, advising the school that the one and only supervised school crossing outside the school will, and I quote, ‘no longer be in operation from term 2’. This came as a great shock not only to the principal but also to the broader school community, some of whom have contacted me. The letter from the City of Whitehorse also states, and I quote:

that this crossing no longer satisfies the VicRoads requirements for a School Crossing Supervisor subsidy.

It would appear from this letter that a very narrow view of the requirements around providing a supervised school crossing have been taken. It does not appear to take into account the safety of the children attending the school and the safety of other users of the crossing, including residents and children from other schools.

It is worth noting that this crossing is located on Stevens Road in Vermont. Stevens Road is quite a narrow road but is nevertheless relatively busy, including being a two-way bus route. The existing crossing provides a crossing point for not only school children and their families but also other people walking to and from Brentford Square, a popular local shopping centre located 400 metres north of St Timothy’s. The safety of pedestrians and road users is of great importance to all local residents, and this supervised school crossing on Stevens Road helps to keep local schoolchildren and other users safe on their local journeys.

I would also note that St Timothy’s Primary School was the 2018 Golden Shoe award winner from the City of Whitehorse, won by the school for actively promoting and participating in the VicHealth-encouraged Walk to School program. How ironic that at the same time the school has received this important award for walking to school, it is losing its one and only supervised school crossing.

I ask the minister to ensure that adequate funding for supervised school crossings is provided to the City of Whitehorse to enable the supervised school crossing at St Timothy’s Primary School in Vermont, and indeed all other required supervised school crossings in the City of Whitehorse, to be funded on an ongoing basis.