There has been considerable concern recently about safety at a number of school crossings. To clarify some misconceptions I have copied details about the RMS School Crossing Supervisor Program below.

One things that emerged during recent discussions with RMS is that it can take up to 14 weels to have an application determined, Supervisor training is about 2 days.

Supervision makes sense

The School Crossing Supervisor program is a state-wideprogram that contributes to the safety of infants and primaryschool students. School crossing supervisors help studentsuse the crossings on roads adjacent to or nearby schools.School crossing supervisors are provided where transportauthority guidelines and criteria are met.

School crossing supervisors are provided to increase mobilityand safety around schools by enhancing the performance ofpedestrian traffic facilities. School crossing supervisorsprovide additional measures for the safe and efficientmovement of primary and infant schoolchildren.

The School Crossing Supervisors program is an important component of the Safety Around Schools program.

How to apply for a school crossing supervisor

Transport authorities assess sites to determine their eligibility for a school crossing supervisor. Requests for a schoolcrossing supervisor need to be submitted in writing to Roads and Maritime Services by school principals. The Request for aSchool Crossing Supervisor (PDF, 232Kb) must to be signed by the principal and include details of the crossing beingnominated for a supervisor.

To ensure that all the relevant information is provided to transport authorities, school principals can email their request toSCSSydney@rms.nsw.gov.au

Assessment of school crossing supervisor requests

RMS will assess the nominated site against set criteria. For a site to be eligible for a school crossing supervisor it must meetthe following criteria:

• The site must have an existing children’s crossing, pedestrian crossing (zebra) or combined crossing (children’s andzebra).
• The crossing must be used by infant and/or primary school children.
• The site must be located within a 40km/h school zone.
• The crossing must be used by a minimum of 50 unaccompanied infant and/or primary school children per houracross a road carrying 300 passenger car units per hour within the morning and afternoon school zone times. Heavyvehicles over three tonnes unladen are counted as two passenger car units.
• The site must be considered a safe working environment for a school crossing supervisor.

Interested in becoming a school crossing supervisor?

School crossing supervisors play an important part in child road safety. The role would suit people who enjoy working withchildren and who wish to work part-time. RMS regularly recruits for school crossing supervisors throughout the state. Schoolcrossing supervisors need to be:

• Punctual and reliable
• Vigilant, calm and confident with working near traffic
• Able to provide clear instructions
• Able to communicate with adults and children

Employment and training

• All school crossing supervisors are trained before undertaking duty on a crossing
• School crossing supervisors are re-trained on a regular basis
• Criminal record checks are carried before the appointment of school crossing supervisor and at regular intervalsduring the employment period
• School crossing supervisors only work on gazetted school days in 40 km/h school zones.

More information

For further details on the program, please email SCSSydney@rms.nsw.gov.au

The following traffic related matters pertaining to West Ward were placed in front of the RMS Traffic Meeting this morning:

• Victoria Avenue between Chatswood Mall and past Chatswood Chase will be closed for a short time (30 mins) on Sunday 19th July 2015 to celebrate the 100th Year of Women in Policing. This will be a great day and the Baton Relay is sure to be a highlight. Our police ladies are training hard in preparation. There will be food and the rocking Police Band…
• Minor signage changes as requested by residents have been approved at Mooney St, Ellis St, William St, Hatfield St, Anderson St, and Finlay Ave,
• Changes are proposed at the intersection of Albert Avenue with Crispe Lane and Albert Lane – a ‘No Right Turn 10AM- 6:30PM from Abert Avenue into Crispe Lane” and a ‘Left Only restriction from Albert Lane into Albert Avenue” (subjet to RMS approval).
• Westfield Carpark -various changes to entrance/exit gates in Devonshire St, Victor St and Albert Avenue.
• Pedestrian fencing at the intersection of Victoria Avenue and Anderson St (subject to funding).
• Further report on proposal to ban Left Turns from Victoria Avenue into Anderson Street South.
• Recommendations regarding treatment of glassed eating areas near the pedestrian crossing in Anderson Street South.
• Longer handrail barriers at the Westfield carpark exit in Anderson Street South (to keep pedestrian further out from the wall).
• Bollards (with chains) to be installed on the southern side of the pedestrian crossing in Anderson Street South (same as on northern side)
• (subject to RMS approval) – 3 Tonne Load limits on Daisy, Tulip and Violet Streets, Chatswood

In 2013 Council and the Department of Education agreed to the synthetic grass conversion
of the sports field at Chatswood High School Oval. There was significant support for the synthetic field conversion from the community.

In late 2014 asbestos fragments were found in soil samples under the oval and the preferred option to deliver a stable long term synthetic field was estimated at:

• Asbestos remediation cost – $1,704,100
• Field construction + sports area $1,897,500
  Total $3,601,600

Council wrote to the Minister for Education outlining the issues. The Minster responded “While the Department of Education and Communities is supportive of Council‘s plans to
upgrade the field, unfortunately it is unable to provide funding towards the project. ….As it
stands, the sports field is considered suitable for the Department’s purposes“.

The current status is that the Council Officers are recommending :

1. Notes that at this point there is no immediately viable location for synthetic turf
within the Chatswood CBD; and
2. Reconsiders this matter when the findings from the Chatswood CBD Recreation
Needs Study are tabled in late 2015.

‘Fit for the Future’? 

IPART has now released the methodology it will use to assess a Council’s ‘Fitness fir the Future’. Somebody has already coined the name for the merged Councils on the North Shore – North Shore Council. The Councils of Willoughby, Mosman, North Sydney, Hunters Hill, Lane Cove and Ryde have failed to come to agreement on merging. This plays immediately into the hands of the State Government appointed IPART to recommend new boundaries.

The Government set down four criteria for IPART to assess:

• scale and capacity to engage effectively across community, industry and governments
• sustainability
• effectively managing infrastructure and delivering services for communities,
• efficiency

Most Councils have focused on the three latter criteria. However, IPART has recently re-emphasised the importance of the first criteria.

Population is part of the ‘scale’ analysis. Over the next 20 years Sydney will need to accommodate an additional 2 million people. For the North Shore Council, the magic figure bandied about is 250,000 people. Willoughby currently has around 70,000 people. There are three ways Willoughby, if Willoughby goes it alone or even with North Sydney, tit can address the population criteria:

1. merge with adjoining Councils
2. Upscale population density within Willoughby by around a factor of four. This would require high rise buildings (similar to the Chatswood and St Leonards CBDs) along main rail and bus routes plus other current residential areas.
3. a combination of the above

Given that Willoughby Council is only actively looking at staying the same or merging with one or two other Councils, the implied outcome is that we would need to accommodate a massive increase in population density – more high rise.

The phrase ‘engage effectively across community, industry and governments’ has particular meaning. Developers have been arguing for many years the need to make development easier and less costly. The Government is already changing the Local Government and the Planning Act to cater to developer demands. Sixteen current rules are being axed. More will follow. Any Council not considering a compliant merger will need to demonstrate now, how they intend to make it easier for development to occur.

A big ‘bugbear’ for many Councils is their political composition. Willoughby Council is a predominately party political free Council. The majority of Councilors are Independents. To the State Government this means representatives of the NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) brigades. A likely outcome of amalgamations will be Councils more likely dominated either by Labor or Liberal parties. Both the Government and the Opposition see this as beneficial. Councils such are Willoughby are clearly in the Government’s sights.

Most Councils, including Willoughby, have been focusing on financial parameters in mounting their case they are ‘Fit for the Future’. They will likely be blindsided by Government and ultimately amalgamated, probably by ‘boundary adjustments’ recommended by IPART.

Fit for the future is an initiative of the NSW State Government designed to reduce the number of Council’s in NSW.

Following are various views on this matter.