Mother ‘scared’ while testing school walkway
BBCA mother said she was “scared” to test a council-proposed walking route to school after the council said some children would no longer be eligible for free transport.
Surrey County Council (SCC) told parents of 81 children in West Molesey that free buses to Esher High School would end after identifying safe walking routes of less than three miles (5 km).
Parent Plamena Naydenova, who tested the route in “daylight”, said she was “scared” and that it was “dangerous, dirty and isolated”.
The SCC told parents in a letter that the route was “found to be safe” by its Safe Travels team, explaining that it “considers the road safety of the route the child is walking”.
Children who live more than three miles (5 km) from their nearest school are eligible for free buses.
The new route, across the heath and along the River Mole, brings the distance below that mark, meaning the group is no longer eligible for the service.
Ms Nedenova said: “The walk took 83 minutes, which I think is unacceptable for children to walk twice a day.”
Fellow parent Kate Maxwell said: “I’ve walked in this in the past and felt very unsafe as an adult, so I don’t know how it can be considered safe for a child.
“I believe it’s actually quite dangerous. There are some parts of the world where you lose network coverage.”
The SCC, which said it spends around £65 million a year on school transport, said local authorities “are not legally obliged to provide free transport simply because parents want to on the grounds of personal safety and security”. The route is considered unsafe”.
It told parents that case law states that assessments should “only look at the relationship between pedestrians and traffic”.
Councilor Claire Curran, cabinet member for education, previously said: “We are not suggesting that families have to use this route to school; they are welcome to use other independent routes or transport methods “
