Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
Now, the Herald can reveal details of the council’s route assessment obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, including reports of casualties involving young people and an assessment that found the route “acceptable” months before parents were told otherwise. .
Despite writing to Millerston and Stepps parents in February 2024 and assuring them they would continue to be entitled to school transport because a historical assessment had found the route to be “unacceptable”, the council had already started a new assessment in December 2023 which classified the route as acceptable.
Parents said they were not aware this new assessment was being carried out until they received another letter in April telling them transport would end in August.
They say the dual carriageway walk is unsafe for children, is not well maintained and will leave some facing an hour-long walk to school .
North Lanarkshire Council maintains the route is acceptable and, at Thursday’s full council meeting, voted down a proposal to use some of its £8 million surplus to support bus transport from the area.
Six children in collisions along the school route
The assessment included a study of collisions along the route between 2019 and 2024. According to the information from the council, there were seven collisions along the route during this period involving pedestrians 5, 8, 11, 12, 13 , and 40 years old.
Records show that incidents involving young people occurred during the week between 3:15 pm and 7 pm Two were “serious,” and the others were “minor.”
The 40th anniversary event took place on Sunday after 8 pm.
Officers who completed the assessment noted that all collisions were acceptable, claiming that they did not involve a school-aged child and/or occurred outside of school travel times.
“Additionally, acceptability was determined due to the proximity of pedestrian crossing facilities.”
Asked to respond to this classification, a spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council said: “The collisions recorded were determined to be acceptable due to the proximity of the pedestrian crossing facilities.”
Parents ‘routinely not informed’
The council’s decision regarding the changes to its school transport policy has been questioned since the decisions were first published.
In line with government guidelines, the council announced its decision to guarantee transport for students who live more than three miles from a secondary school starting in August 2024 or primary students more than two miles from the school starting in August 2025.
North Lanarkshire was previously one of many councils that continued to offer transport according to an older set of guidelines, which included a much wider range of students living two miles or more from the secondary and one mile from the primary school. The change came from the council’s efforts to cut into an expected budget gap.
Parents across North Lanarkshire have spoken out against the decision, and a number staged a protest outside the council offices ahead of their full council meeting last week.
Read more: ‘What do they think this will do to attendance?’ Parents fighting for a bus route
Changes to the Millerston and Stepps route were of particular concern to parents as the council initially promised that the change in council policy would not affect their service, according to a letter written to parents in the area on February 16 , 2024.
“From August 2024, the council will only provide transport for secondary pupils who live more than three miles from their catchment school along the nearest acceptable walking route,” the letter to parents said.
“We have used GIS technology to measure walking distances and have completed a program of acceptable walking route assessments around our secondary schools.
“Once this exercise has finished, your child will continue to be eligible for school transport from August 2024.”
However, information obtained under the Freedom of Information request shows that the council has already started to reassess the route between Chryston and Millerston/Stepps in December 2023.
When asked why parents were told the council was carrying out work to redistribute their route to school, a council spokesman said the new assessment was “part of the wider review program” and that parents “are not being told as a matter of procedure for footpath assessments such as these. is an active process.”
Student safety being used as a ‘political football’
During a plenary meeting of North Lanarkshire Council last Thursday, SNP Councilor Tracy Carragher tabled a motion asking the council to approve using £2.088 million of an £8 million surplus to fully fund transport for another year.
He said this would give time to assess the routes to each school more fully and engage with parents.
“It is up to the elected members of this local authority to decide on its school transport provision.
“No decision should have been made that would have a direct impact on the safety of our young people. Not to mention a decision that would affect their education.
“Don’t make this a political football. The safety of our young people is far too important.”
After a lengthy debate, the motion was narrowly voted down in favor of an amendment by Scottish Labor councilor and council leader Jim Logue, who called the cuts to transport “inevitable” and said instead that any surplus to close future budget gaps. .
Lorraine Kerr, chair of the Stepps Primary Parents’ Council, one of Chryston High’s feeder schools, said the decision to vote against the proposal had left parents feeling that their voices did not matter in decisions affecting their children.
“As a group of parents, we are extremely disappointed and disillusioned that the majority of councillors, who were elected to represent the views of their constituents, have failed to do so.
“Our strong voices have been ignored, highlighting the clear and worrying disconnect between constituents and our elected officials.
“This is clearly party politics at work, with no priority being given to the safety of our children.”
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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