YOUNGSTERS have told of their safety fears when walking to school, amid a growing population and an increase in traffic in their village.

Gullane Primary School Parent Partnership has contacted both East Lothian Council and housebuilder CALA to seek support for safer crossings to the school.

A spokesman for the group said: “Children are walking to school and crossing roads that are busy, and we have a village that is growing in size, with a lot of houses having been built and another 150 being built on the edge of the village.”

Gullane has witnessed an increase in population and traffic following the construction of 48 homes at Fentoun Green, 19 at Fentoun Meadow and 125 at Marine Rise.

A further 150 are planned for the Saltcoats Field site.

A crossing patrol guide was in place at Main Street but has not been operational since August last year.

Gullane Primary School’s junior road safety officers – Ella Wilson, Hannah Carter and Josh Spink, all in P6 – have written to the community policing team and East Lothian Council to ask for help making roads safer to walk to school.

Josh said: “It’s very simple – more kids run the risk of death. They need to be looked after on the roads.”

Hannah added: “Without a lollipop person, I feel quite unsafe when crossing the road.

“I don’t like crossing without an adult and most children feel the same.”

A council spokesperson said: “We’re aware of the issues being raised by the parent partnership and our officers are meeting with them regarding their concerns.

“We are continuing efforts to recruit for a new crossing patrol guide for this location, as well as several others within the county.

“Crossing patrol guides play an important and visible role in providing safe routes to school.

“However, all road users have their part to play by driving to the conditions and speed limits in place.

“We work closely with the police for their support in dealing with speeding and inappropriate driver behaviours, which are within their remit.”

The school’s parent partnership spokesman said that there were several spots in the village where speeding traffic was a particular problem, including Main Street, Muirfield Drive and also Fenton Road.

Of the latter, he said: “CALA have put up a couple of speed bumps and they’re going to be putting up more, so they have responded but it took a lot of pushing to get them to do that.”

Derek Lawson, strategic land director with CALA Homes (East), said: “In Gullane, all of our developments include pedestrian connectivity to the existing network, promoting walking to and from school, and speed reducing measures on the public road network.”

And the parent partnership had a message for drivers in the village: “Be aware that children are crossing those roads, running beside them, and stick within the speed limit.”