Proposals designed to improve road safety for pupils of Southend High School for Girls and others are set to be given the go-ahead.

The school, in Southchurch Boulevard, has applied for a new access road with a bus bay, a turning area, linked footpaths and five lamp columns.

Southend Council's development control committee is being recommended by the council's technical services director, David Watts, to approve the proposals.

In a letter to the committee, the school said the application followed months of work with neighbours, Thorpe Bay High School and the Safer Journeys to School organisation, which aims to create better facilities for pupils travelling to and from their schools.

At the moment, private consortium buses park outside the school on Southchurch Boulevard.

The school says this causes congestion, leading to an unsafe pedestrian environment for students and for members of the public.

The school said in its letter that its proposal would mean school buses parking in the school grounds.

This, it said, would improve the flow of traffic along Southchurch Boulevard and create a safer boarding area for students.

It said the land which would be used was a narrow strip of garden which could not be used for any other project.

Published Monday, April 28, 2003

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