Concerns over 'danger' bridge on pupils' route to new school

Kelvin Hall School, in Bricknell Avenue, Hull, is about to be knocked down and rebuilt under the city's 400m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

The school is heavily oversubscribed, with 993 pupils attending a 950-place school, and in Easter 2012 will open with a 50 per cent increase in capacity to 1,550 places. The project was given planning permission last week, despite concerns about how pupils will cross a railway line to the west of the school.

The route most likely to be taken is via a footbridge at the end of Priory Drive – which local councillors warn is badly lit, dilapidated and not accessible to disabled people.

Bricknell ward councillor Andrew Percy said: "There are only two routes in – the railway bridge over Hotham Road North or the flyover over County Road North, and kids aren't going to use the flyover, they are going to go over the railway bridge.

"The railway bridge is old and rickety and is not disabled-accessible.

"It's at the bottom of a quite dark cycle track and when I was pupil at William Gee in the 80s it was not seen as a good place to hang out."

He added: "It's just in the wrong place. I have consistently raised concerns about it throughout the process but never had any satisfactory progress.

"It makes a mockery of the whole BSF thing about a school being in a catchment that represents its natural community.

"Schools are supposed to reflect their catchment, and that doesn't in any shape or form."

Hull Churches Housing Association runs a sheltered housing scheme in Priory Drive, and said improvements to the bridge and the construction of disabled access ramps would require the use of more land, which would have an adverse impact on residents.

The association told Hull Council's planning committee: "We appreciate the responsibilities that BSF have to deliver the change programme and to facilitate, where practicable, safe access and routes to schools.

"However, in this case this objective must be weighed against the detrimental impact the bridge works would have upon the privacy and amenity of neighbouring residential properties...particularly as these bungalows are occupied by elderly and vulnerable residents."

BSF project director David Martin said yesterday that improvements to the bridge would be carried out and it was hoped any concerns about the work could be resolved.

He said: "It will be a condition of planning approval that a suitable improvement scheme is implemented across the railway line to allow safe access to the new school buildings. We will continue to work closely with all relevant parties to reach an acceptable solution."

Meanwhile, plans to rebuild or refurbish all secondary and special schools in North East Lincolnshire under BSF have been approved.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has agreed 140m funding for North East Lincolnshire Council.

The council's portfolio holder for children, schools and families, Tony McCabe, said: "We are delighted that the plans for our BSF programme are moving forward and look forward to selecting our partners for the development of our new schools by next spring."

He added: "BSF is the biggest ever investment in North East Lincolnshire and through it the council is not only aiming to improve school buildings, but is investing time to transform teaching, learning and the community use of our school facilities."