Sir,
Due to an obvious misunderstanding, I would take this opportunity to restate the safety concerns of many parents relating to school transport, as I am sure that County Clr. Mrs. Rosemary Hayes did not intentionally put county council budgets ahead of school children's safety.
• Where children use a subsidised service bus, there are often occassions when children do not have a seat each, and have to stand (and I fully accept that these buses are designed for standing passengers).
• Council officers advise me that a school bus would provide one seat per child.
• School buses can be provided if there is no safe pedestrian route to school. The county council safety group have recently met to review the Saundersfoot to Tenby route and deem it to be safe. However, Saundersfoot Community Council, county councillors and many parents do not consider this to be the case.
• My earlier letter advocated free school transport for all those children that require it. Obviously not all 18,000 school children in Pembrokeshire would require a school bus, as the majority of under 11s are educated in their own community, as are a substantial minority of over 11s.
• I am further advised by council officers that the additional cost would be the bus fare collected, and I suggest this would total far less than the doubling of the existing budget as feared by County Clr. Mrs. Hayes.
I trust this clarifies the concerns of many Saundersfoot parents. The safety of our children travelling to school is paramount and we will continue to fight for school buses and even seat belts.
Clr. Phil Baker,
Northover,
Rushy Lake,
Saundersfoot.