North Lanarkshire Council have recently launched a consultation on the provision of free school transport for primary and secondary pupils within North Lanarkshire. The proposal is to increase the distance to school for which pupils would be eligible for free transport, from the current one mile for primary school pupils and two miles for secondary school pupils, to two miles for primary and three for secondary.
The parent council is aware that this will affect a number of pupils at Westfield, and by the council’s own calculations, well over 4500 pupils across NL. We are concerned that this action will significantly impact the safety of children directly affected, but will also add to an existing traffic congestion problem with knock on effects on the safety of the whole community and implications on air quality. We also have concerns about the current provision of public transport options.
We don’t feel that the potential cost savings of this exercise are justified by the negative impact it will have on the pupils, community and environment around Westfield Primary. The Parent Council intends to make a representation outlining our concerns on behalf of the Parent Forum, we would love to hear your views on this and would welcome your comments directly.
NLC has also launched a consultation online to gather the views of the public on this. The full consultation documents for both the primary and secondary school proposals are available at http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/schooltransport as well as links to allow you to complete your views online. The Parent Council would encourage you to take the time to complete the consultation to help give this as strong a response as possible. A link to the consultation can be found on the Parent Council blog page https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/nl/WestfieldWonders/parent-council/
NLC have arranged a number of public meetings, a good showing at these would help demonstrate the strength of feeling at these proposals. The full list is available on the consultation document, the local meeting is at Greenfaulds High from 7 – 9 PM on Tuesday 28th November.
