Safe Access to School! – The 3^rd workshop to consult with scholars and parents took place on 14^th of July.  

Municipal Spatial Planning Suport Programme in cooperation with Municipality of Mitrovica and Meto Bajraktari primary school organized the third workshop on safe access to this primary school. This workshop is part of participatory design process and active engagement of all stakeholder groups like: pupils, parents, school management, HANDIKOS, neighbours, police, public utility companies and municipal officials.

The purpose was to agree on proposed improvements which are aimed to increase the safety of children on their way to school and make necessary re-arrangements to make the neighbourhood area more friendly for pedestrians. The main cause of the safety problems identified during earlier workshops was the lack of restriction on car access directly to the school compound, which poses particular hazard for the children walking out and coming into the school compound on foot.

After the design solution was agreed, MuSPP team and municipal officers are now working on finalizing the detailed plans. The project is focused on a crossroads giving access to the primary school yard. It also has evolved to include the immediate surroundings of an entire municipal apartment block, in order to create a second pedestrian access to the school yard, and to upgrade the public space around the building.

In order to develop viable project options the focus of the workshop was on hearing the opinions of the residents and users of this apartment block and other adjacent buildings. A set of graphic materials that illustrate shortly the design process – problem identification, and elaborated project design solution was prepared and distributed to the residents of the apartment building along with an invitation letter explaining the purpose of the meeting.

The workshop concluded that the detail project design and cost calculation will be developed further by the municipal officers before going out for tender. Project will be co-financed by MuSPP (funded by Sida implemented by UN-HABITAT) and Municipality of Mitrovica.

All parties will be duly informed for the time of the implementation of the works.