Residents opposed to the proposal to scrap discretionary concessionary travel to Island faith schools have copied VB in on a letter expressing their dissatisfaction with responses from council officers over the matter.
Chris Whitehouse has included the Local Government Ombudsman, the Private Office of Lord Hill (who is the Minister responsible at the Department for Education) and Island MP, Andrew Turner in a list of recipients of a letter to council officer, Roger Edwardson. In his letter, Chris expresses grave concerns following several failed attempts to obtain important documents relating to the School Transport Strategy.
He’s had some back and forths with Mr Edwardson, but remains dissatisfied with the responses so far. In response to the latest reply from Mr Edwardson, Chris says,
You assert that they meet your legal requirements. However, can I draw your attention to your Sustainable Transport to School Strategy which you attached and which, in Section A4 on page 10, makes it quite clear that the document does not fulfil your statutory requirements. Indeed, it expressly identifies that it fails to include the statutory “full consultation, assessment and audit required”. It promises that these documents, part of the statutory requirement, will be part of Phase 2, to be developed later (albeit clearly after the statutory deadline of August 2007 had passed).
The same document should have been reviewed annually and posted, as previously drawn to your attention, each year on your web site prior to 31st August.
I am sure you must be right that these processes were followed and the required documentation published, but that is not what you sent to me and not what I have been able to identify on the web site.
I would, therefore, be most grateful if you were to look once again into this matter and send to me the documents which in your view demonstrate that you have fulfilled that statutory requirement, not least because these must have underpinned the decision making of the Council in coming forward with its proposals to end discretionary concessionary travel for those attending faith schools.
Given the delays to date, this is now becoming most urgent and I do, therefore, look forward to hearing from you with this information without further delay so that it can be shared with and considered by those hoping to respond to your time-limited consultation on your faith school travel proposals.
In addition to the complaints above, Chris also takes issue with a lack of response from council leader David Pugh to a letter sent on 16th May, saying,
Whilst writing, I should add that I am also surprised to have had the courtesy of neither an acknowledgment nor a response to the attached note sent to the Leader of the Council, Cllr David Pugh, on 16th May listing a series of fundamental flaws with the consultation exercise.
We’ll let you know if the said documents finally surface.
Image: Rennett Stowe under CC BY 2.0
