Council rapped by ombudsman
County Hall failed to properly consider whether children could safely walk to school before deciding to scrap free buses to save money, a watchdog has found.
Leicestershire County Council has been found guilty of maladministration by the local government ombudsman.
The ombudsman investigated complaints from parents at Brook Vale High School and Groby Community College, in Groby, and Humphrey Perkins High School, in Barrow-upon-Soar.
Seven parents complained that the council either wrongly withdrew or failed to provide free home-to-school transport for their children by not considering the safety of each route before making its decision.
Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk
View detailsOur heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Sunday, May 26 2013
Yesterday, ombudsman Dr Jane Martin upheld their complaints.
She said: "I believe the council's decisions were the result of a fundamentally flawed decision-making process, and this was maladministration."
County Hall initially told the parents in May 2011 that their children would be entitled to free home-to-school transport.
However, the authority reversed the decision in October 2011, when it said their home addresses were within three miles of their respective schools, so they did not qualify.
Six complainants appealed, disputing the safety of the route – in particular the lack of street lighting – but not the distance.
Dr Martin said the council only considered the width of the roads, crossing points and existence of pavements, but did not consider street lighting or the condition of one of the routes at different times of the year.
Dr Martin ordered the council to apologise to the parents and pay them each £100.
A county council spokesman said: "As a result of this investigation we have already reviewed and introduced a revised home to school transport walking route assessment policy so it is more robust and reflects the Department of Education and Skills Guidance from 2007. Two of the routes in question have been reassessed and remain as available walking routes. The ombudsman has confirmed that our revised policy and the reassessments undertaken fully comply with the guidance .
"We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the parties concerned for any uncertainty that has been caused as a result of this."
Comments
by PLYMFOX01
Thursday, October 04 2012, 11:16AM
“Bob 0491 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ”
by RuralOutBack
Thursday, October 04 2012, 7:45AM
“Bob491 Looking at the County Council website a scrutiny panel made up of Labour, Liberal & Conservative members all agreed to this policy so please get off your political bandwagon. I personally do not think a totally safe route is available in the city or county but the cost to bus 84,000 children to school would cost millions of pounds of taxpayers money.”
by DonHenson
Thursday, October 04 2012, 4:54AM
“Technically, parents are responsible for their childrens' education.
However, if the roads - under Council responsibility - are unsafe to travel on foot, the safe transport issue becomes a matter for the Council.
Bearing in mind that as this story went out a child was hit by a bus on one of these "safe" routes, this story is going to run and run.
The Council would agree with Neil - 84,000 kids walk to school safely every day. But if the route is inherently unsafe...it's another matter entirely and then you have to focus on the one route.”
by Bob491
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 11:01PM
“It's not just constant stories about this shambolic and dishonest Con government.
It's now also constant stories about the shambolic and dishonest Con County Council.”
by Neil0123
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 7:07PM
“Silly question but who should be responsible for ensuring the children get to school safely. Is it parents or is it the taxpayer? If it has to be the taxpayer then - assuming that councils are still having tight spending settlements - which other services need to be pruned to allow this to happen?
We need to look at this in the wider world and not just at this one bus route.”