Community groups have hailed it "outrageous" and "astounding" that the council's roads department has not involved them in the traffic management plan being designed by the developers, apparently without consultation with the public.

Now Bearsden North Community Council is set to write to East Dunbartonshire Council's chief executive demanding the immediate involvement of the community. Given the accident history at the busy Duntocher Road/Stockiemuir junction they believe consultation is vital.

When the plans for the new school on the former St Andrew's College site were unveiled two years ago parents complained about the absence of an accompanying traffic management scheme and say the authority pledged to produce a road safety strategy in consultation with the community.
At the moment, however, there appears to be no consultation on the cards as the council's response to the Herald's questions on how far the traffic management plan has progressed and when the consultation will take place was: "The developers are due to submit revised drawings that detail the proposals for traffic management at this site.
"In the months ahead information on the proposals will be communicated to the community."

Councillor Amanda Stewart was chairwoman of Bearsden and Milngavie Residents' Forum when the school plans were made public.

She told the Herald: "We were shocked that no traffic scheme accompanied the building plans given the school is being sited at the most dangerous junction in the district.

"Our organisation was one of the first to stress that consultation on traffic management is vital and it's astounding to hear the developer's proposals will be 'communicated' to us in a few months.

"The people of the local community know the dangers of this road and the parents know the problems of 1300 children pouring out of the school.

"We don't want the developer deciding to what extent we get measures such as safety barriers and crossing patrols.
"Road safety is a matter for the authority and only the authority has the power to impose road restrictions."

Bearsden North Community Council Chairman Keith Small said: "It's outrageous that the developer is to design the traffic management scheme and that we will be told some months down the line what is being proposed.

"Road safety should be the remit of the roads department and I will be writing to the chief executive to insist we get a say on the draft proposals. The safety of our children is paramount so the stakes are too high for us to be presented with another fait accompli."

Both the forum and the community council welcomed the recent reduction of speed on Stockiemuir Road from 40 to 30mph but believe that in the vicinity of the school, this should be further reduced to 20mph.