We Keep The Bus - for now at least

Just as our campaign was building up the Council changed its mind, we keep the bus for at least another year. We need to be careful however as it will be re-assessed again next year and it is likely that by then a Government White Paper will have changed all the rules. Councillor Ray Gooding has written a statement which I have published below and there is expected to be a further statement to follow when the Cabinet Member makes his formal statement on Monday.

The Council has now published it’s formal decision and it is as Councillor Ray Gooding expected. (see below) The decision to stop providing the bus has been deferred until September 2007 and will then be made in the context of the new rules which by then should be fully available. We must now lobby our MP to try to make sure that those rules properly provide for the safety of our kids. Sir Alan Haselhurst has been extremely close to all the Airport issues and has a very strong background in respect of all our roads, he should be well able to carry our case into the House. He will respond to your wishes but you of course must make them clear to him.
The Council Decision was sent to me by Cllr Gooding for me to use to close down our campaign in its present form.

CLICK HERE TO READ IT

A letter to all parents and carers has now been received, no need to reproduce it most people have now seen it. I have made a few comments on it however and used it to close the whole saga - for now. Scroll down.

In the following I use Adobe Acrobat format for the letters and other documents to preserve their format and show their authenticity. If you don’t have the software its free, click here and download it.

THE SCHOOL BUS - THE STORY SO FAR

Graham Ranby (planning and admissions manager) originated a notification document wherein children previously provided with transport would continue to do so. Unfortunately however the document went on to outline policy whereby should the conditions of the route to school change such that it became acceptable for walking then transport would not be provided for new pupils. The document was signed by the Director of the Schools Service and the Cabinet Member for Education.

CLICK HERE TO READ IT

Now this should not have been a problem to our kids because nothing had been improved in respect of the route between the villages for many years. The road meanders about and has no speed restriction save the national one but is narrow, while cars can pass safely heavy vehicles come dangerously close. There is a pavement along the entire length but no street lighting so pedestrians are alternately dazzled by full headlights then plunged into darkness as vehicles pass. The traffic on the road has been increasing steadily over the years partly due to extra housing being built and partly by through traffic which includes an increasing amount of airport related use. We also have a very high level of high speed emergency services vehicles which BAA admit are theirs. Taken all round the route has changed but in the context of “reasonable safety” it has deteriorated so the school bus should have been safe from economy cuts.

In February parents received a letter advising that the route had been re-assessed and it had been decided that it was now acceptable for children on foot . Pupils starting from September 2006 would be expected to walk.

CLICK HERE TO READ IT

In the second page of the above letter an incredible development appeared in that while the decision was clearly wrong it was stated that there was no further right of appeal against it.

CLICK HERE TO READ IT

Further discussions took place resulting in another letter re-iterating the denial of the right to appeal and pointing out that a County Councillor had accompanied the panel during the re-assessment of the route implying that this rendered the decision beyond dispute.

CLICK HERE TO READ IT

The decision itself was included with the above letter. The key statement was that “Members walked the route from the school into Elsenham and noted that there was a pavement from the school all the way into Elsenham itself. There was also a high level of lighting”. This made no sense as the street lighting of both villages extends only to the edges of settlement, how could they have walked the route and not seen this?

CLICK HERE TO READ IT

Now comes a surprise development. Councillor Catherine Dean has written to Councillor S Castle disputing the safety of the route by means of a number of very pertinent observations. Clearly the panel should have spotted all the serious hazards Cllr Dean points out but it seems that the panel did not walk the route. They walked from the school to lower street then took a coach!

CLICK HERE TO READ IT

If there really is no appeal against this DECISION (and we are unsure why this is written in block capitals unless we are meant to be intimidated by it) then the fact that the decision is based on incredibly bad assessment practices, falsehoods and errors, means we cannot prevent a totally unacceptable injustice. That is we can’t get redress by proper means, we can however make such a fuss that the culprits find themselves revealed fully to public scrutiny. This web-site is but a beginning. One of the aspects offered as justification was a low accident rate for the route, we are not about to stand idle and wait for enough accidents to get the bus back, these are kids not statistics!

More will follow as we first take on board Councillor Dean’s observations because the hazards she has identified are not limited to kids on the way to school.

Councillor R Gooding’s Statement.

Transport from Elsenham to Mountfitchet School

I have been advised that, as a result of the concern which has been raised regarding the decision to suspend the transport to Mountfitchet School for new pupils from September this year, the Cabinet Member has reviewed the previous ruling and will be making a statement on Monday 3rd April.

The concern which has been raised by parents and other residents of Elsenham has been taken into account and whilst it is still judged that the route is available to walk under the rules to which the Council must adhere, the suspension of the service will be delayed until September 2007.

The Government are currently producing a White Paper updating the rules for the provision of school transport and that document will be available towards the end of 2006. It is likely that the provision within that document will enable the County to take a less constrained view toward school transport.  The delay in implementing the suspension of this service until after to Governments views are published will therefore enable the service from Elsenham to Mountfitchet School to be assessed again next year in light of the new recommendations.

I will be attending the Parish Council Meeting on Monday evening and by that time I will be in a position to fully answer any further questions which may be raised in relation to this matter.



Ray Gooding
County Councillor
Stansted Division
01279 813103
cllr.ray.gooding@essexcc.gov.uk
 

A lot of people have done a very great deal of work to secure this result and the next level of escalation was close to ready, with a poster campaign and once we were sure we had the media attention a massive organised walk was planned. Obviously this all now stops but participants are requested not to dispose of the material produced as we could well need it later. We now need to get to grips with the White Paper as that could go either way. Once everybody has seen it, this sequence of articles will be moved to a suit of pages of its own so that it can form the information centre for the future. Keep in touch with it and send over anything you get.

For now, to everybody who helped us in our endeavour thank you very much!

Parents and carers have now received a letter confirming the above. The lack of lighting of any kind over half the distance is now admitted but the Transport Routes Panel have so far not taken Cllr Dean’s other points on board. Next time round then we will have it all to do again but we will use her letter as a starting point, it is hoped however that the forthcoming White Paper will be better set up in terms of what are acceptable hazards. Rest assured we will monitor its every step to be ready to get the best deal we can when the time comes. I suspect that the expanding airport will have an affect on the state of the road then (and that comment can be taken in many ways). Keep an eye on the Parish Council minutes for early signs of trouble brewing if Uttlesford get their wish (See Uttlesford/BAA planning consent terms) Coopers End roundabout will be closed to us and all that traffic will be forced to find other routes, most of which will go via Grove Hill.