Cornwall Council’s Cabinet has today put on hold plans that would have seen children attending some Cornish schools lose their vital school transport.
The Cabinet has instead listened to the concerns of local residents, Cornwall Councillors and MP and taken the plans back to the drawing board. There will not be a future review until after further consideration is given to the feedback received.
Welcoming the news was St Austell and Newquay’s Member of Parliament Steve Double, who said:
“I welcome the sensible and pragmatic decision by Cornwall Council’s Cabinet to take these plans back to the drawing board, following the outcome of the consultation, and am grateful that they have listened and acted accordingly.”
“While these plans would have impacted some schools across Cornwall, there were routes in the St Austell and Newquay constituency, including Foxhole to Brannel and Penwithick to Poltair, that local residents and Councillors have contacted me about, with concerns that the routes being proposed for children to walk to school were simply not safe.”
“I have fed these concerns back to Cornwall Council while we were waiting for the outcome of the consultation on these changes that they conducted earlier this year, and have been in regular touch with councillors to press the case that these bus routes should be continued. I am pleased to see that they have now done the right thing and stopped any changes to the routes pending a further review.”
“I hope that any review will take all the very legitimate concerns raised by families into account in order to ensure that decisions in the future are arrived at in a way that ensures children and families in the affected areas do not lose out, and that their safety and wellbeing remains the priority at all times when considering travel to and from school.”