Tots forced to walk after ‘shameful’ vote
A COUNTY councillor from Willington has slammed her Labour opponents who rejected plans to reduce the distance under eight-years-old have to walk to school.
Conservative Becky Brunskill asked Durham County Council to consider reducing the compulsory walking distance for under eights from two miles to 1.5 miles which would have meant more children being eligible for free transport.
This week,(Jan 15 edition) however, the Labour majority rejected Cllr Brunskill’s plea and also a Liberal Democrat amendment for a review on the subject to be drawn up by the Overview and Scrutiny committee.
Cllr Brunskill called for the change after meeting a Willington woman who walks 36 miles a week to get her four-year-old daughter to and from school.
Cllr Brunskill said the 19 miles a week walked by girl often led to her being tired during lessons.
A furious Cllr Brunskill said: “Having walked with one of the parents, to experience for myself the distances involved and the time it takes, I was shocked that young children and parents without the means to get there any other way are having to struggle daily to and from school, particularly where the schools in question were not the first choice of those parents but were allocated to them.
“Some of the distances being walked by parents every week would be the equivalent of travelling from
Durham’s County Hall to Morpeth. We can’t allow families to struggle in this way particularly when they are doing the right thing and education is so important not only to their future but for County Durham’s.”
Cllr Brunskill even invited her 126 fellow councillors to join her on a four-mile trek from County Hall to the Arnison Centre the day before the vote but only three took part.
She said: “None of Labour’s 69 Councillors turned up. Those who went on to vote against the motion on Wednesday (many having driven to County Hall) have let down those parents and children who are struggling in difficult circumstances to do the right thing. It’s a case of out of sight, out of mind.
“I’m confident the costs involved will be relatively small, but for those this change would have helped, the benefit brought would have been huge.
“For the parents I represent, it would have meant a better quality of life and children will would not have endured the school day exhausted.
“Because of this vote that will continue, but I will carry on raising this issue and I’d encourage any parents who are faced with walking their children to school up to two miles away, to contact their councillor and urge them to think again.”
Liberal Democrat councillor for Consett North and North West Durham parliamentary candidate Owen Temple echoed Cllr Brunskill’s disappointment.
He said: “I don’t think councillors would choose a four-mile walk for their own five-year-old children or grandchildren to get to and from school, or an eight mile round trip for themselves.
“They stifled debate because they didn’t want to face the fact that they are forcing very young children to walk the maximum legally allowable distance to school, while allowing older children to walk only two thirds of the legally allowable distance.
“And because of the children’s age, their parents or carers have to endure a double dose.
“After endless decades in power Labour politicians have lost touch with ordinary people.”
Local Liberal (Independent) leader John Bailey, county councillor fro Crook North, said the vote was dictatorial and that people should not just follow the party whip.
He said: ‘That vote was shameful and we are quite distraught by it.
“You could put a motion saying the wind was blowing to the west and the Labour lot would all vote against it.
“It’s ridiculous the party whip should be used on an issue like this. They are not interested one bit in other people’s feelings.
“Why can’t they start listening to other people’s ideas?”
Claire Vasey, cabinet member for children and young people’s services said the council’s policy was already more generous than the national recommendations of three miles and that the project would have cost vast sums of taxpayers money to even research let alone implement.
Cllr Vasey said: “You could say we have already gone the extra mile to allow children to qualify for free transport. We already have one of the most generous school transport policies in the country.
“Cllr Brunskill’s proposal would be a major piece of work which would involve officers having to see how many of our 19,000 children would be affected not to mention the budget implications.
“Getting a child to school is a parent’s responsibility, that’s why we see prosecutions of parents who aren’t ensuring their children are attending school.
“Durham County Council spends £13m a year on school transport and as a parent myself I think our policy is already generous enough.”