County Council comes under fire as police say school walking route is unsafe (Lewes Liberal Democrats)

Lewes Liberal Democrats <info@leweslibdems.org.uk>

County Council comes under fire as police say school walking route is unsafe

November 30, 2011 2:18 PM

Conservative-run East Sussex County Council has come under fire again over its failure to ensure that a children's school route is safe. Local police have now stated that the route is potentially dangerous to walk even if there are only a few adults in the groups.

Local parents are outraged that Conservative councillors still say it is safe for their children to walk down unlit country lanes with no pavements and a 60 mph speed limit, but refuse to walk the route themselves.

The Conservative Council has angered parents by ignoring villagers concerns over the future of their school bus service. Local parents and Lib Dem Councillor Sarah Osborne organised a petition signed by almost 500 people and got a cross-party vote from the District Council to try and save their school transport.

Local Lib Dem Councillor Sarah Osborne has been championing rural concerns and has been helping parents organise an adult only protest walk along the route.

However, following police advice over the risks to adult safety Cllr Sarah Osborne said "I would not want to put anyone in danger and as the police sensibly pointed out, bad weather conditions may well make the walk to school that day especially hazardous, so I have cancelled the walk. It's shameful that the County Council don't show the same concern for the children of East Chiltington."

In a letter to Sarah, Lewes District Police Commander Natalie Moloney said: "My advice would be that the roads are not suitable for a large group to walk along and to do so would be potentially dangerous. I believe that apart from Mill Lane there are no pavements and the national speed limit applies.

When Councillor Sarah Osborne asked the police what would be the maximum number of people that could walk this route before it was potentially dangerous, the District Commander replied,

"I would personally feel comfortable walking in a group of 4 knowing that I was in close enough proximity to be able to shout a warning of oncoming traffic to the person at the rear" The District Commander went on to say "I appreciate this will not be the advice you were hoping for but I must consider what is safe in the circumstances for all road users."

Local Lib Dem MP Norman Baker said "If the police say a road is unsafe for adults to walk, how can the Council County possibly say it's safe for children? They need to look again at this urgently."