Clare County Council says its planning department is investigating ‘access issues’ for children partaking in Ennis National School’s ‘walking bus’.
It follows parents and guardians of pupils expressing concerns about the potential cancellation of the initiative, which begins at the Westpoint Business Park each morning.
The ‘walking bus’ resource has been available at the site, which is located on the Kilrush Road in the town, for a number of years.
It’s understood the agreement between the school, Clare County Council and Westpoint Management Company is subject to a number of conditions.
Parents of pupils were informed by the school in a social media post earlier this week the ‘walking bus’ was being cancelled due to what they say was a refusal of admission from the owners of the Business Park.
Ennis National School has told Clare FM that the matter is being reviewed by the school’s Board of Management and that it will continue to work with key partners in this arrangement, to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.
The school says the walking bus gives children the opportunity to socialise in a healthy, safe and supervised environment and has been an integral part of how they get children to school since moving to its current location.
In a statement to Clare FM, Westpoint Management Company claims the walking bus brings 60 to 80 cars per day to its site, and that a private developer meeting the school’s parking requirements on private property ‘isn’t sustainable’ due to ‘associated costs and insurances’.
They say the opening of the HSE’s new outpatients department at the facility has changed the situation substantially.
Westpoint Management Company goes on to claim the school and the local authority were made aware ‘the property was no longer available’ for use earlier this summer and that the move was considered ‘the last and only option’.
Parents say security personnel have been present at the site during school drop off hours to prevent them using the facility, with the Council saying it’s ‘aware’ of the issue.
It’s understood discussions between the school, the local authority and Westpoint Business Park on the matter remain ongoing.
Statement From Westpoint Management Company
We have been dealing with this matter since February 2020, so 18 months at this stage.
The parking at Westpoint has been made available to the school for the last number of years, given that the property was required for the Walking bus which we were advised would require parking for 7/8 vehicles and would be required in the morning before 9.00am.
We confirmed in correspondence with Clare County council on the 5th October 2020 that we were prepared to ‘facilitate the on-going use of our property subject to a written agreement with ourselves as owners and the school and its board of management’ and this was acknowledged by the planning authority as being acceptable.
The situation on the ground has changed substantially in that the HSE have now opened up the HSE Outpatients department and that the walking bus to school is now operating with up to 60-80 cars using the premises twice daily.
It is not sustainable that a private developer on private property is required to meet the parking requirements for the Ennis National School with all the associated costs and insurances.
We have tried to engage with the school and local authority for over 18 months at this stage. We have repeatedly asked for our basic conditions namely and indemnity from the principal and the board of management and the increased costs of insurance to be met. The school claim that their insurance cover will cover our liability is simply not true. (For the record, 2 insurers have refused to quote us with the other increasing the premium by 12% simply because of the presence of the walking bus.)
We wrote to the principal of Ennis NS in June 2021 confirming that the property was not available and that we would be imposing parking controls. We separately wrote to Clare County council on the 02.07.2021 confirming the same. We proposed various temporary solutions to facilitate the use of the property but even though these were agreed, they were ignored.
The imposition of parking controls was only considered as a last and only option. The school/council were written to in March, April, May, June and July of this year expressing our frustration with what was happening on our property. The scale of the use of the property and the complete lack of any attempt to meet our conditions has left us with no option but to impose parking controls but the principal and the council were well aware that this was happening.
Statement from Ennis National School
The Walking Bus of Ennis National School has operated from Westpoint Business Park every morning for the last 8 years. This gives children the opportunity to socialise in a healthy, safe and supervised environment. It has been an integral part of how we get children to school since we moved to our current location.
The entire school community is most disappointed at the development over the past few days. We believed that we had the co-operation of Westpoint Business Park up to recently and we hope that we will have it again in the future. The matter is being reviewed by the Board of Management of Ennis National School and we will continue to work with Clare County Council and Westpoint Business Park, key partners in this arrangement, to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, the safety of the children of Ennis National School remains our number one priority.
Statement From Clare County Council
The Local Authority has been made aware of access issues to the Westpoint site for school drop-offs.
This matter has been referred to the planning section for its investigation.
