Car ban could be solution to Fife primary school’s ‘acute traffic problems’

Dalgety Bay’s Donibristle Primary School suffers from an “acute traffic problem,” and local councillor Dave Dempsey (Conservative for Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay) has said it’s time for the council to act.

Following his lead, South and West Fife Area committee councillors agreed to bring a report about the problems to their next meeting in April. It will explore ways to alleviate the traffic problems around the school, including, but not restricted to, banning traffic from the straight section of Morlich Road leading up to the school at times when pupils are around.

“We have lots of problems with traffic around primary schools in general, but Donibristle has acute problems,” Cllr Dempsey explained. “This has dragged on for years and years. I have been contacted by residents who are basically fed up. We’ve talked before about lines, traffic warden visits and police, but nothing has worked. I think it’s time for us to do something that will actually work.”

He continued: “We’ve been seen for years to be tinkering around the edges and achieving no results at all. It’s time we did something to get a result.”

Donibristle has a roll of approximately 440 pupils and is set in extensive grounds overlooking the Firth of Forth, on the west side of Dalgety Bay. It sits down a small, dead-end road off of Morlich Road. The cul-de-sac is painted with bright yellow "keep clear" lines and signage, there are still issues with traffic and access.

It is not the only school in the Kingdom with significant traffic problems at drop off and pick up times, but its position has made the issues particularly hard to address. Other committee members were happy to support Cllr Dempsey’s motion and the committee will hear about potential solutions at the next meeting in April.