Agenda and minutes

None noted.

A number of members of the public wished to make a statement to the Committee regarding the Home to School Transport item.

Jemma Ellison, Chair of Governors from St. Mary’s RC Primary School made the point that the proposed changes would have a detrimental effect on children. She suggested that both going to a different school to siblings and a lack of continuity as a result of changing schools would lead to poor educational outcomes for those children affected. She added that the report had suggested that the people impacted by the proposed changes were from mainly affluent backgrounds. It was argued that this was inaccurate and that a large number of people from poorer backgrounds would be disadvantaged by the proposed changes too.

Margaret Charlton explained that she felt that the proposed changes would result in the erosion of Christian values in society. Furthermore, it was argued that the proposed changes to post 16 mainstream travel would have a negative impact on social mobility.

Edward McHugh, Headteacher at St. Thomas More Catholic High School, commented that the summary of the consultation did not provide an accurate picture. Indeed, he contended that the process was flawed in length, having not provided the full 28 day period to his respective school. He also noted that the relevant documents were not available in Polish until half way through the consultation process, disadvantaging a number of parents at St. Thomas More. Edward McHugh also asserted that there were alternatives available to the Council in terms of saving money that would not have the unintended consequences that the proposed changes would have. He requested that the Council should explore these possibilities further.

Rachel White, a parent with a child at St. Thomas More Catholic High School, made the point that faith schools saved money for Cheshire East by investing their own funds into areas such as the maintenance of buildings. It was suggested therefore that it could be a false economy to withdraw travel support as money would have to be spent elsewhere. Furthermore, she argued that parental choice in terms of educational setting was very important and that this should not be taken away.

Kieran Kelly, Headteacher at St. Nicholas Catholic High School, Northwich, stated that although his respective school was situated in Cheshire West and Chester, it had served Cheshire East Children for a number of years. With this in mind, he expressed his disappointment at not being contacted during the consultation process. He asserted that the proposed changes would have a significant impact on the volume of traffic in particular areas as an increasing number of parents would have to transport their children using a car. It was queried whether the Cheshire East had undertaken an independent survey to analyse the impact of this increase in traffic. As a final point, attention was drawn to the fact that Cheshire East policy acknowledged that the catchment areas for faith schools were not based on a zoned geographical area but rather around parishes.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 31 May 2011.

RESOLVED – That subject to the following amendments the minutes of the meeting held on 31 May be approved as a correct record.

a)    That the names of Councillor Hilda Gaddum, Fintan Bradley, Cath Knowles, Tony Crane and Mark Grimshaw be shown as being in attendance.

b)    That on page 1, the words ‘and would prove to be a false economy’ be added at the end of paragraph 2 to the points made by Alex Scott.

c)    That the words ‘in relation to school places modelling’ be added after the words ‘potential impacts…’ in paragraph 3 on page 3 in relation to the Home to School Transport update.

Lorraine Butcher, Director of Children’s Services, attended to provide a presentation which outlined the main issues in the report on the review of Home to School Transport.

She explained why the proposed changes to transport had been put forward. Firstly attention was drawn to the tight fiscal situation that, in line with the national context, Cheshire East faced. It was made clear therefore that if the requisite savings were not found in discretionary services such as subsidised travel, they would have to be found in other services, potentially impacting vulnerable children and young people.

Lorraine Butcher continued to outline the consultation process, highlighting the significant and wide-ranging response that it had produced. Following the consultation process, the service had drafted a recommended proposal for each affected group. She explained that based directly on the feedback from the consultation, the impact of the original proposals stated in the consultation papers had been considerably reduced. For instance, following the consultation exercise, the amended proposals suggested no changes for transport arrangements for children and young people with specialised needs. Additionally, it was stated that the ‘phasing in’ of the proposed changes would help maintain continuity of educational setting. It was also noted that the amended proposals would mean that it would take longer to achieve the necessary savings and that this discrepancy would have to found elsewhere in the budget.

Following the presentation, the Chairman invited visiting Councillors to speak on the item under consideration.

Councillor Sam Corcoran made the following points:

·         Had the Council considered the impact on jobs as a result of the proposed changes as parents had to drive their children to school?

·         St. Thomas More Catholic High School had not received the full 28 days consultation period.

·         Did the figures take into consideration the loss of income for Cheshire East as children stopped using the service during the transition period?

In providing a summary, Councillor Corcoran stated that whilst he welcomed the concession to ‘phase in’ the proposed changes he was still concerned over the potential of siblings being on split educational sites. He also asserted that Cheshire East needed to address the fundamental issue as to whether the Council intended to continue to support faith schools. He suggested that the Committee could consider recommending to Cabinet an inflation linked charge increase until a number of potential discrepancies were investigated.

Councillor Shirley Jones stated that faith schools were different in their offer to other schools and therefore it was important that parents had the choice available to them. Additionally, she stated that the proposed changes would have a large impact on young people in Cheshire East who wished to follow a vocational path in their education post 16 but would not be able to due to their local colleges not offering the relevant courses. Councillor Jones expressed her regarding withdrawing the subsidy for school transport and that other alternatives or compromises should be sought.

Councillor Frank Keegan drew attention to a number of faith schools that would be seriously  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.