To receive a presentation from the Transport Manager.
Minutes:
Chris Williams, Transport Manager and Jenny Marston, Policy and Accessibility Manager (Transport), attended to provide a presentation on the Available Walking Routes Policy. After providing a brief explanation of the legal context and a definition of an available walking route, Chris Williams continued to provide a brief overview of recent developments that had occurred to the policy area. He noted that a local authority had recently been subject to a Local Ombudsman Challenge to policy in this area. This had centred on the local authority in question not explicitly stating that they had followed central government guidance in their policy. Chris Williams explained that a number of other local authorities were in a similar position and therefore the Council was seeking to reaffirm its policy with a number of minor amendments and clarifications. These were detailed as follows:
In terms of the latter point, Chris Williams explained how the last formal review of available routes in the Borough had been conducted more than twenty years ago. Developments in the highways network since that point had meant that many children could walk in relative safety and no longer required assistance. Chris Williams added that this had led to a relatively high number of children being entitled to school transport due to a lack of an available walking route in comparison to other local authorities (25% in Cheshire East compared to less than 5% nationally).
Chris Williams acknowledged therefore that once the review procedure for available routes began, it was likely that some children would no longer be entitled to transport whilst some would become entitled who previously had not been.
In summary Chris Williams noted that he would be making the following recommendations to Cabinet and he asked for the Committee’s comments.
· Continue to use Road Safety GB guidelines
· Adjust policy statement to take account of DfE’s guidance
· Adopt revised policy
· Reassess all current routes classed as unavailable to ensure consistency and fairness
· Adopt a policy of reassessment after a defined period – suggested at 5 years.
A number of comments were made stating that it seemed likely that once the review procedure for available walking routes had been completed more school children would have their entitlement to transport removed than would gain entitlement. It was asserted therefore that this policy could potentially be very unpopular, particularly considering that discretionary school transport had recently been removed for those pupils attending faith schools. Consequently, it was stated that such a review procedure would need to be carefully managed to ensure that local communities and local ward Councillors were kept fully informed.
It was contended that the notice period for withdrawal should be longer than the suggested one term. Chris Williams reported that the Council had looked at what notice period other authorities were providing and that this ranged from 0 to 12 weeks. By suggesting one term therefore the Council was offering a withdrawal period at the top of the range.
Chris Williams commented that the Council would always follow the ‘Precautionary Principle’ when it came to deciding if a route was safe or not. This meant that if there was any doubt about the safety of a route, the Council would always provide transport.
It was requested that the Committee receive the draft version of the updated policy on the 9October 2012 with the amendments from the previous policy highlighted.
RESOLVED –
a) That the presentation be noted.
b) That the Committee receive the draft version of the updated policy on the 9 October 2012 with the amendments from the previous policy highlighted.