A CORNWALL councillor has called for a review on the local authority’s Safe Walking Routes to School policy, as parents in Delabole continue to campaign for transport for some local children.

Liberal Democrat Cornwall Councillor for St Teath and St Breward, Dominic Fairman, proposed a motion at full meeting of Cornwall Council on Tuesday, December 4, which requested a review of the authority’s Safe Walking Routes to School policy.

It follows as Delabole continues to lobby the council in providing transport for many local children who are now being forced to walk a dangerous route to their school in Camelford, due to the fact that they live less than three miles away from their place of education.

The motion, brought to the chamber by Cllr Fairman on December 4, received great support from his peers.

Cllr Fairman said: “It was, of course, because of 16 children from Delabole losing their entitlement to free school transport that prompted me to bring this motion forward — but I believe this to be a Cornwall-wide issue.

“We spend around £15-million a year on school transport. However, this is simply a direct result of our rurality and the fact that we spend 50% of this budget on taxis only goes to show the challenge of running this service across our county.”

Exactly half of the village of Delabole lost entitlement for free school transport after a review earlier this year, according to Cllr Fairman. A rural, single-track road had been used to bring these houses to just within three miles of Camelford’s Sir James Smith’s School, and this route had then been deemed ‘safe’ by the local authority for children to ‘walk up to three miles twice a day’.

Cllr Fairman continued: “Should we be content to have a safe walk to school policy that takes no account of street lighting? And more importantly for Cornwall, are we content to allow children, carers, mums, dads and pushchairs to share with the traffic, narrow rural lanes that are barely wide enough for tractors and lorries, with no pavements and no prospect of safe refuge?

“If we cannot find policy wording that can make this work fairly and safely for our rural residents, then I suggest that as a matter of urgency we reform and unshackle the Appeals Panel and allow them to exercise meaningful checks and balances.”

The motion was carried almost unanimously gaining support from members of all parties, with many highlighting concerns about walks which children and young people in their areas were having to undertake each day to get to school and college.

There was a sombre moment when Tintagel councillor Barry Jordan addressed the chamber.

He told councillors: “Eleven years ago on Saturday this week we lost our young son. The pain is still there even now. I don’t want to see parents have to suffer the pain that we have suffered. It is not worth it.”

Liberal Democrat councillor Joyce Duffin said: “Central Government has a policy that works really well in urban areas but doesn’t work at all in rural areas. A few years ago Cornwall Council realised that and put extra funding into rural areas for buses.

“It is only because of cuts from Central Government that the council has been forced to withdraw that support.”

Sally Hawken, cabinet member for children, said school transport was an ‘emotive issue’ and she understood the problems with juggling getting children to school with getting to work.

She admitted there were some inconsistencies in the system at the moment and said an internal review had been looking at these, with an informal panel of councillors looking at a number of ways to address the issues.

A report from the review is set to go before the children and families overview and scrutiny committee in January and Cllr Hawken said any recommendations from that would be taken seriously.

She said school transport was an important issue for her and Geoff Brown, cabinet member for transport.

Giving her support for the motion, she said: “Children’s safety is important for the council. A review of policy will be considered.”

An appeal to the Local Government Ombudsman has also been lodged by parents and meanwhile the parish council are funding concessionary places on the school bus until a judgement on the council procedure has been determined.

The ‘No Bus Pass for Some Delabole Children’ group has been campaigning for Cornwall Council to reconsider their decision in disallowing free school transport for the 16 local children who have been affected.

Kirsty Carnon, a member of the community group, said: “We are pleased that Cornwall Council members voted to support Dominic’s motion to review the current policy and hope they change it to be fair for people in rural areas. Listening to the other council members talking in the debate showed it is a Cornwall-wide problem and it’s definitely about time it was addressed.

“We are very grateful for Dominic’s hard work and support. He has been brilliant throughout our appeal’s process. We are still awaiting the decision from Ombudsman, but we are feeling hopeful.”

Roger Lyle, also a member of the group and a parish councillor on St Teath Parish Council, is pleased with Cllr Fairman’s motion, and believes they are ‘one step closer’ in getting the result that is needed for Delabole.

He said: “Obviously it is brilliant news and at least the council are looking at this. It’s also good to see the collaboration between the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives and even the Labour parties — hopefully they’ll prevail. We’re finally one step closer to where we want to be.”

While the local authority undergo the review of their current policy, St Teath Parish Council has agreed to pay approximately £80 for each affected child to be taken to school via a bus, avoiding the risk of danger to the children along the proposed route in the village.

Conservative MP for North Cornwall, Scott Mann, who has showed his support to Delabole and walked the route himself twice in order to see just how dangerous it is for local children, is also supportive of the motion.

He said: “I was very pleased to see that Cllr Fairman’s motion to review Cornwall Council’s Safe Walking Routes policy was passed with cross-party support. He has worked hard for the people of Delabole and we stand together to try to get this change made.

“The issue highlighted by the Delabole parents, where their children are expected to walk a very dangerous route regardless of weather conditions, was clearly found to be unacceptable by council members.

“I urge council leader Adam Paynter and his cabinet colleagues to revise this policy as soon as possible.”

The group’s online petition has now received over 5,000 signatures, and hope to get to 7,500.