Enfield school warden position raised at municipal area council meeting

Councillors were told that following a review, Meath County Council considered the crossing point in Enfield to be safe and heard that there were no plans to recruit a school warden after the current warden retires.

Cllr Padraig Coffey brought up the Enfield school traffic warden issue at the Trim Municipal Area March meeting, outlining that 150-180 children cross there who are used to having a lollipop person for guidance.Cllr Noel French questioned if the council was planning to replace the school warden and if not, were there plans to ensure the safety of the children crossing.

Director of Services Des Foley outlined that as each school warden retires or resigns, each location is reviewed. For example, he said in Dangan other measures including road markings and ramps were put in.

He said in Enfield, the school warden had reached statutory retirement age and having undertaken a technical review of the junction, they were satisfied it is a safe crossing point.

He pointed out that the school warden does not operate at the school but at the junction of the Main Street/Johnstown Road, a short distance from the school.

Mr Foley said there is a green man on both crossings, a raised table to reduce speed and railings in place and it was considered to be safe.

He said that the road safety officer had visited and would visit again and would brief the children and staff of the changes and make them aware of the operation of the junction.

"We are satisfied it is functioning and safe and no other measures are envisaged at this point."

Cllr Moore said the children are used to having a warden and the new school year would be the time to make the change. Cllr Coffey asked if the warden wanted to stay on, could they somehow try keep it going until the summer and perhaps look at funding it through a CE scheme but none of the suggestions put forward were considered to be viable.Mr Foley said they were faced with a retirement and in practice, there would not be time recruit anyone else and that in the past it had been difficult to recruit to these positions. Again he reiterated the point that the Council consider it to be a safe crossing.