Council declares route to Clowne school is ‘non-hazardous’ after parent’s complaint

Derbyshire County Council was asked to inspect the route from Bakestone Moor, just south of Whitwell, through Peter More Hill and along the A616 Sheffield Road into Creswell and to Heritage High School, a secondary with nearly 900 pupils in Clowne.

A parent had raised concerns about the route and the authority agreed to reinspect the route, carrying out an inspection over the summer.

It says it focused purely on the crossing from Peter More Hill on to Sheffield Road because the rest of the route from Creswell to the high school had already been inspected in 2012 and deemed ‘safe’.

During a county council meeting this week, Councillor Alex Dale, the authority’s cabinet member for education, said four councillors attended the inspection and were ‘unanimous’ in declaring it ‘non-hazardous’.

This means the route will not gain any free home to school transport for helping pupils get from Creswell to Clowne and there will be no extra effort to look at safety improvements.

Coun Dale said: “It is well paved along the whole route and there are a few areas where you have to cross the road.

“As with any journey you have to have your wits about you.

“The only issue that did come up was overgrown hedges along the road, but this was not so dramatic as to force someone to walk in the road.

“Overall it wasn’t deemed to be hazardous.

“We have to be mindful of the fact that it is the parents’ responsibility to get their children to school and that is the assumption that is made, that is the criteria that we follow.”

The county council provides home to school transport for children aged under eight who live two miles or more from school and children aged eight and above who live more than three miles from school.

An exception to these rules is made if the council agrees that a particular route is ‘hazardous’ for the pupil.

The county council lays out that when deciding if a route is ‘hazardous’, it makes the assumption that a child is accompanied by a parent or responsible adult while making the journey and is ‘suitably clad’.