Meeting to discuss road safety concerns at busy Castletown play park
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Campaigners are to meet with Highland Council to see if a solution can be found to improve road safety near a busy play park in Castletown.
The meeting between the Castletown Crossing Campaign and local authority officials is expected to take place shortly.
The group, which was launched by mother-of-two, Donna Kirk with help from her friend Emma Manson, want a zebra crossing installed on the village's Main Street to make it safer for youngsters to get to the play park. The facility was extensively refurbished several years ago and is well used by youngsters.
Mrs Kirk, who is 33 and lives in Murrayfield with husband Bruce and two children, eight-year-old Breagha and one-year-old Kane, says such a measure would make the road safer for children, the elderly and people with mobility issues.
She and other parents are concerned that, with the main road getting busier partly due to the popularity of the North Coast 500, the situation is an accident waiting to happen.
Mrs Kirk said: "We are delighted to hear back from Highland Council. We understand that traffic surveys were carried out through the Safer Routes to School scheme and appreciate their findings.
"We now look forward to meeting with them to discuss engineering a solution that will keep everyone in the village safe. For now we will continue to engage with our community through the petition and the public Facebook page Castletown Crossing Campaign, recording any concerns, ideas and near misses."
A Highland Council spokeswoman said: "An assessment for a formal crossing was carried out, in accordance with Road Safety GB guidance, on the Main Street in Castletown in 2018. This assessment showed that even with allowances for the increased summer traffic, there isn’t enough pedestrian or vehicle flow to make a formal crossing a viable option.
"However, the road safety team attended the site on April 20 to explore design options to improve the informal crossing arrangements."
The crossing campaign and petition has already been backed by local people, community groups, councillors and businesses in the village and attracted over 600 signatures.
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