BY NATALIE GALLENTI
ALBION parents are fed up with scouring a laneway for used syringes each morning before their children go to school.
Angry parents have been pushing for the laneway behind Albion Primary School to be closed, after years of close calls where youngsters have even witnessed drug users injecting themselves.
In June, Star revealed parents from the small school organised a petition asking for the laneway, which they described as a ‘hot spot’ for drug users, to be shut down.
However, fuming parents claim nothing has improved, and are demanding Brimbank Council take the issue seriously.
These latest concerns come only two months after the council mysteriously lost the petition, which contained 300 signatures.
At last week’s council meeting, the petition organiser called on the council to explain why the laneway was not being cleaned prior to the commencement of the school day and why it often took the council up to three hours to respond to call-outs, despite a commitment from them to respond to any calls made by the school within the hour.
Brimbank Council general manager infrastructure and environment Paul Younis said the council shared and acknowledged the concerns of the community on this matter.
Mr Younis said an investigation was being conducted and police had been made aware of the issue.
“This investigation being undertaken by council is yet to be finalised, but has included passive video surveillance of the area over a period of about three days which has allowed council to get a better understanding of the usage of the laneway,” he said.
The outcomes of this investigation, including recommendations on options to assist in the management of the situation will be presented to the December ordinary council meeting
