On Monday 15th January, South Lanarkshire Council launched a consultation on increasing the qualifying distance for high school transport from 2 miles to 3 miles.
The result of this is that
- Every child from Uddingston or Bothwell who attends Uddingston Grammar will be ineligible for a school bus.
- Every child from Bothwell, and a significant number of children from Uddingston, who attend Holy Cross High School will be ineligible for a school bus.
I believe there are serious equalities risks with this change. For example, a family staying in the centre of Uddingston who send their children to the non-denominational sector may have as little as a 10 minute walk to Uddingston Grammar but if they send their child to a Catholic school, they could face more than a 1 hour 10 minute walk (for wee 11 year old legs) to Holy Cross in Hamilton. This is clearly not equitable.
As all local residents know, Bothwell and Uddingston are very poorly served by public buses. The one bus that comes through the area is the First 255, every half an hour in each direction. Hundreds of Bothwell and Uddingston pupils will be effected by this change in both directions and the one public bus in each direction (which may already be half-full with work commuters) simply will not have enough capacity for all of them.
Few parents are seriously going to expect their child to walk this up to 6 miles round trip to school and back, so many families will now have to drop their children at school. Beyond the ecological impact, this will have an effect on the parent’s employment. As childcare responsibilities often fall to mothers, I am deeply concerned this will hinder women’s access to working life.
Many communities across South Lanarkshire will have similar issues to Bothwell and Uddingston with this proposal. Given South Lanarkshire Catholic schools’ generally larger catchment areas than their non-denominational counterparts, I believe this will effect more denominational pupils than denominational ones. But I think there is the additional risk to our Bothwell and Uddingston children posed by the nature of the walk between our ward and Holy Cross:
- To start, the ‘path’ on the west side of Hamilton Road, Bothwell is less than a foot wide at points. This means only one side of the road is safe to walk down.
- Bothwell Road, Hamilton is a 40mph dual carriageway which is known to have lots of speeding of 50mph+.
- The path through Bothwell Road Park will be deemed the “shortest safe walking route” for determination of qualifying distance. It will be considered safe because there is no risk from road accidents.
- This park is however not safe from other, non-road risks. There is no lighting in the park and no houses overlooking it due to tree cover. I am informed that there have been reports of crimes in this park that would make it unsafe for pupils. I am deeply worried about the dangers that pupils could face walking though this area, especially on a dark winter’s night, for example.
Consultation responses can be made before Friday 1st March:
- Online at bit.ly/slcschooltransport
- By email on educationconsultations@southlanarkshire.gov.uk
- By post to:
- South Lanarkshire Council, Education Resources (Central Support Team), Transport – Consultation Response, Hamilton, ML3 0AA
Public meetings will be taking place on Tuesday 30th January at Holy Cross High School, please call 01698 455 698 or email the above email address if you would like to book a slot to attend.
I am happy to meet personally with any interested party, to discuss this matter further.
Header image: CC BY-SA 3.0 / User: Arriva436 / Wikimedia.org / edited
Cllr Cal Johnston-Dempsey 