Richmond School’s wheeled bollards have been replaced with sturdier installations.
The school has had temporary bollards on wheels to help enforce the 8am to 4pm weekday closures of Church Street’s one-way section, which bisects school property.
Those wheeled bollards have now been replaced by retractable metal bollards that lower into the ground when the road re-opens.
“I’m delighted we’ve got them there,” says Richmond School principal Tim Brenton.
“[It] just saves a lot of hassle wheeling them out from the school every day.”
Before receiving the wheeled bollards, the school saw about 35 vehicles travelling the wrong direction down the one-way section each day to avoid the Oxford Street traffic lights.
But children must cross the street to reach the school’s back field.
Closing the one-way section was adopted as a trial in July 2023 to make that journey safer for the kids, and the wheeled bollards followed one month later.
The changes were made permanent by Tasman District Council in December 2024.
“From my point of view, it’s been a godsend,” Tim says.
“It was actually quite dangerous… What is paramount is the safety for our children.”
The situation had improved with the arrival of the wheeled bollards, but every 2–3 weeks a vehicle would shift the bollards to drive through anyway.
“One or two would put them back, but other times they just leave it. Of course, that becomes a danger for our kids, because once they’ve shifted, then people then started driving down the wrong way,” Tim says.
“Hopefully we’re not going to have any serious accidents, but that’s what we’re trying to avoid by doing this.”
Different infrastructure options continued to be discussed by the school and the council before the new, permanent, retractable bollards were agreed on.
