Construction of Aberdeen’s planned western bypass could have a “serious impact” on vulnerable children at a residential school, it was claimed yesterday.
Dr Stefan Geider, GP at the Camphill Rudolf Steiner Schools near the River Dee, said building the bypass would be “very taxing” for the “extremely sensitive” pupils at the school.
He told the public inquiry into the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route that at least six to eight children would need to be permanently moved to a different campus because of their sensitivity to noise, visual stimulation and change.
A hearing into the impact of the nearby road on the Camphill Estate was held yesterday at the inquiry in the Hilton Aberdeen Treetops Hotel.
Dr Geider said: “There is not one single child that has just one problem – they have six, seven, eight, nine problems.
“The construction part of the road will be very taxing for some of them.”
The AWPR had been scheduled to plough through Camphill school grounds before supporters mounted a high-profile campaign.
The land was spared in a last-minute change of route, announced in December 2005.
However, Camphill chiefs claim the construction phase will still cause disruption for pupils.
Colin English, an engineer speaking on behalf of the Camphill community, told the inquiry noise levels were likely to increase by four decibels in parts of the estate.
“Whereas I fully accept, in terms of the impact on the general population, four decibels may not be that serious, in terms of the very vulnerable population we believe it will be very serious,” he said.
Dr Bernadette McKell, an acoustical consultant representing roads authority Transport Scotland, compared the noise level to that which you would expect to find in a “living-room during the day”.
But she acknowledged that she “could not dispute” that the change might have a significant impact on the vulnerable youngsters.
Transport Scotland and the Camphill community representatives were in agreement over many mitigation measures which could be introduced to minimise the impact on the 39 pupils at the Camphill Estate campus, including barriers, stone walls and tree planting around the site.
Further wrangling over potential compensation for any disruption caused at the school – including moving pupils and staff – is expected.
Dr Geider said: “I do think Camphill has had to invest a lot of resources to have this conversation here today and I do think we need to find different mechanisms to see how we could financially deal with that.”