School Transport Webcasts-Judge for yourselves

On March 13th the CWaC Exec discussed the intended School Transport changes. Often after a meeting you just hear the outcome. Occasionally you can access the minutes of the meeting and learn a little more but unlike Hansard in Parliament the minutes from a CWaC meeting are just a brief summary of the key outcomes and decisions.

Obviously the best option would have been to attend the meeting itself and hear the whole story. You could have then formed your own view on the discussion and whether all sides had a fair hearing. Failing this we nowadays have the benefit of seeing a webcast of the meeting.

I would strongly urge you to spend a few minutes watching the webcast. If you click on this link you will be taken to the webcast which will start automatically. On the right hand side of your screen you will see a timeline box. By choosing a specific time ( on the left hand side of this box) you can select which part of the webcast you wish to watch.

I suggest you click first onto time 00:20:30 and you can hear the deputy head of Tarporley HS Mr L Martin present a good case of the implications of this policy on Tarvin & some Duddon children and the lack of any transport savings if children moved to Christleton which as we know is already heavily over-subscribed.

The second section to watch is the excellent input from our Borough Councillor Hugo Deynem at 00:55:47 emphasising the representations and arguments against the proposal made to him by parents across his Tarvin & Kelsall ward.

Well did the Exec listen and take note of the extensive consultation?

Have a listen to what Councillor Mark Stocks (who has led this review) has to say both at the beginning and at the end of the debate and form your own view!

On Friday 28th. there was a Community Leaders debate chaired by our MP Stephen O'Brien. This again can be watched via a webcast by clicking thislink.

Our School Transport issue was brought up again. Stephen O'Brien's introduction to the subject starts at 00:33:03 and Councillor Mike Jones ( Leader of CWaC) follows straight after.
Do you think CWaC is listening to our Community?

In later articles we will look more closely at the cost savings case and the arguments behind the policy and see how well it stands up to scrutiny. Also what further options are open to the schools and parents involved in this disruptive change? Can CWaC be made to open their eyes to alternative solutions which are more likely to deliver their objectives.?

As ever the Tarvin webteam welcome your thoughts on these questions. We are happy to have an email inbox filling up on this issue.

The 2nd event at which the School Transport issue