The Department for Infrastructure has said that it does "not have the resources" to provide gritting on all of the roads where schools are located.
The statement comes after concerns were raised regarding the safety of children and their parents going to schools in icy conditions and the possibility of them suffering an accident.
It is understood that a number of schools across Northern Ireland experienced problems due to Wednesday's frost and snow.
Read more: Call for increased gritting in Belfast as school children injured on frozen pavements
SDLP Lisnasharragh councillor Seamas de Faoite said that a number of schools in his area, St Bernard's Primary School and Knockbreda Primary School and Nursery, had problems with the icy conditions and he has called on the Department to review its gritting policy due to the risks to children.
He said that he wrote to the Department and was concerned to hear that gritting would only be provided to roads carrying more than 1,500 vehicles a day, or those with “difficult topography” carrying over 1,000 a day.
Councillor de Faoite said: “I am seriously concerned by the latest response from the Department for Infrastructure to my calls for additional gritting services outside schools to keep children safe. While I understand the significant pressures that the department is facing and the need to prioritise main roads, surely we cannot expect schools to receive no support, leaving people at risk of serious injury during the current weather conditions.
“Many schools are located away from main travel routes for road safety reasons and this policy makes little sense given the large numbers of pedestrians that will be in these areas, even in the absence of heavy traffic flow. We cannot expect children, parents and staff to navigate an ice rink simply to get to school.
“I have responded to the Permanent Secretary calling for an urgent review of this policy so that our schools don’t end up in this difficult position in future. The department has a duty to do everything in their power to prevent injury and keep people safe in these conditions and I don’t think providing gritting services to our schools is to much to ask.”
The Department for Infrastructure has said that many schools are located off the main salting network and it does not have the resources available to provide gritting at all of them.
It said that extending the current salting schedule would put pressure on other services that it provides and that many of these are safety related.
A DfI spokesperson said: “The Department delivers a winter service programme to mitigate, as far as is reasonably possible, the effects of adverse winter weather. At times of ice and snow we deploy around 300 staff and a fleet of 130 gritters - working round the clock when needed - to salt the 107 routes that make up the 7,000km of the network on the salting schedule. The existing Departmental policy which was approved by previous Ministers and the Executive means that the Department salts the main through routes linking towns and villages which carry more than 1,500 vehicles per day and, in exceptional circumstances, roads carrying between 1,000 and 1,500 vehicles per day are salted. The application of this policy means that 28% of the total road network, which carries around 80% of traffic is salted.
"Many schools are located off the main salted network on side roads and rural roads and while we appreciate the frustration of schools, parents and pupils we do not have the resources to salt all roads where schools are located. That said, priority will be given to routes to school which have had to close due to inaccessibility once the primary network has been treated. The Department maintains a list of schools which experience particular difficulties in wintery conditions and will make every effort to salt a route to them when resources become available.
"Any extension of the salting schedule at the moment would put increasing pressure on the Department’s already challenging budget and would be at the expense of other functions delivered by the Department, many of which are also safety related.”
A spokesperson for the Education Authority (EA) said: “The Department for Infrastructure hold responsibility for gritting roads and pavements outside of school premises.
“Within the EA Estate, schools are responsible for the gritting of areas within their grounds. The EA organise the supply of grit and in a few cases organise the gritting on behalf of the schools.
“To date we have not received any concerns from parents or public representatives. Some schools have reported issues with the inclement weather.”
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