Comments on: Whittington walk decision an insult

By: rachel stewart

rachel stewart — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:26:53 +0000

I am really disapointed in the dicision made by Staffordshire County Council as we are directly affected by this decision.!!!
We as a family can not afford the cost of £390 per child. I have two sons who attend their local catchment area school, so the cost to send my sons to school is £780 for the school year. As we are unable to afford such an amount I have been told my children should walk to school accompanied by myself. I agree my children would be safe but this would be just under a twelve mile daily round trip for my two youngest sons, are aged 8 and 6. They would have to make these journeys with their elder brothers as i have no one else to care for them at that time on mornings and afternoons. Day in day out i do feel this will have a profound effect on my sons as they will be shattered, soaked ,cold, etc depending on the weather on the day.
The route is secluded with no streetlights, no footpaths ,poor visibility resulting in constantly crossing from one side of the road to the other.
I really hope Staffordshire County Council start to see sense before it is too late.

By: Phil Mann

Phil Mann — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:25:20 +0000

Staffordshire County Council were on the news again tonight in relation to their refusal to adopt precautionary 20mph speed limits outside schools. What are these people on?!!

By: Matthew Ellis

Matthew Ellis — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:15:33 +0000

In response to Ian Lewin’s comment, the national guidelines are, just that, guidelines. Like many area of policy, central Government provide a baseline minimum but authorities can vary what they do according to political priorities.

The Labour County Council could change the criteria if they wanted to but, in my view, the considerable cost of a bespoke yellow bus fleet is prohibitive as can be seen by the fact that Birmingham charge £190 for a school bus pass where Staffordshire has risen to a whopping £390.

By: Ian Lewin

Ian Lewin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:39:03 +0000

What are the rules relating to free or subsidised travel and are they set by central government or the county?

I remember that when I was at school, some say that needs a good memory, that the calculation was from the centre of the village I lived in to the centre of the village in which the school was. This made it under the 2 mile limit that was used at that time even though the school was 1/2 mile further on. Presumably this sort of calculation is not used in Whittington as it would mean free travel for all. However if the village boundary was used possibly no-one would get free travel!

On the yellow buses are they used for anything other than school transport? If not this must be costing much more than hire of a ‘normal’ non yellow bus so it will be interesting to see your comment when you see the costs.

By: Bob Patchett

Bob Patchett — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:52:01 +0000

I feel that it is totally wrong for children to have to pay to get to school.