Following receipt and review of a recent Freedom of Information response relating to the Blackwood / Kirkmuirhill → Lesmahagow High School route, we can confirm that this information has now been formally raised with both Roads and Education services at South Lanarkshire Council.

For transparency and accountability, emails have also been sent to our local MP, MSP and councillors, setting out the findings and their direct relevance to the Sandford → Strathaven route.

The FOI documents clearly show that:

- a route previously deemed acceptable was later reassessed,
- Roads concluded the route was NOT suitable, with no safe alternative available, and
- key risks included fast-moving traffic, restricted visibility, and road geometry / blind approaches, particularly affecting children on their journey home.

Internal council correspondence explicitly recognised that when combined with parental safety concerns, these findings meant that school transport should continue to be provided — and the decision was reversed.

This matters because the risks identified in Blackwood closely mirror those repeatedly raised by parents regarding the Sandford → Strathaven route, including:

- fast-moving traffic,
- blind bends and restricted sightlines,
- limited safe crossing points,
- poor lighting and increased winter risk, and
- a lack of meaningful mitigation.

We are not asking for special treatment, only consistency, transparency, and the same evidence-led approach that has been applied elsewhere.

📌 If you haven’t already, please add your name to the petition to support safer routes for our children:
👉 https://www.change.org/SandfordSafety

We will continue to press for:
✔ a full, up-to-date reassessment
✔ parity of decision-making
✔ children’s safety to be put first

Further updates will follow.