Local Member of Parliament Craig Tracey has urged the County Council Education Transport Department to reconsider its proposed changes over a school bus service to Polesworth School.
Families in the village of Warton have been contacted by the department notifying a fee of £375 per student using the bus service starting in the new academic year.
Craig Tracey has called this change unfair on families. There is currently no fee for the bus service and the changes follow a consultation exercise for home to school transport. In the letter families have been urged to walk to from Warton to Polesworth School – a route the local MP believes would be dangerous.
Craig commented:
“Parents have contacted me after receiving this letter from the education transport department this week. They are right to be concerned, not only is it a significant fee per student they will be asked to pay but the alternative would mean walking at least 50 minutes each way, partly along country roads, which I do not believe are safe for children; particularly during the darker winter months. I have written to the County Council to urge them to change their decision. I am amazed it appears that the local County Councillor has not kept residents up-to-date with this situation as it was decided back in October, yet residents are only being told now.”
The North Warwickshire MP has requested a meeting with the Council department to try to resolve this issue.
Craig’s letter to the Department is below:
Dear Mrs Naven-Jones
I am writing to you following your letter to a number of my constituents living in Warton.
In your letter you have notified them of changes to the free bus service for pupils living in Warton travelling to Polesworth School. These changes mean a significant sum of money for families in the next academic year; from no charge at all to £375 per student using the bus. For some families, especially those with more than one child attending Polesworth School, this fee will become very difficult to afford and clearly it is not fair to expect them to do so.
Furthermore, I do not believe the explanation for the changes are valid.
Firstly, you state that, “You have now received a detailed assessment of the most suitable walking route from Warton to Polesworth High School.” However there is no detail of the most suitable route in the letter. Many parents have advised me of their concern over how safe it is for their children to walk from Warton to Polesworth. Warton is a very rural area, rural roads are the most dangerous and statistically most likely location of road accidents. Can you tell me if there are footpaths and pavements for the whole route?
You go on to state in your letter: “I need to advise you that the report indicates all sections of the route have been confirmed as safe for an accompanied child to walk to school.” According to Google Maps walking the distance will take at least 50 minutes. Are you seriously asking parents accompany their children and walk for 1 hour and 40 minutes back and forth to the school twice a day? This is clearly unrealistic as most parents have to work during the day. This shows that not enough consideration has gone into these changes.
Finally, during the winter months, visibility on the route would be significantly reduced. There are limited street lights on the country roads out of Warton and this will increase the likeliness of a road accident taking place.
Can you confirm how many families in Warton and North Warwickshire responded to the consultation? Also, please advise what steps were taken to inform them that they could participate in the consultation?
As my constituents have pointed out, the Council should be encouraging the use of public transport, however, these changes are likely to encourage more car journeys for those who have that option available. Therefore traffic in Polesworth will become even more of a problem - at peak school time the town’s main road routes are often gridlocked.
In view of the serious nature of this issue, I would like to arrange a meeting with you and the policy holder at the County Council as soon as possible. I strongly urge you to reconsider these changes due to the negative impact it will have on families with children who need to attend school.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely
Craig Tracey MP