CONTROVERSY has followed the subject of school buses for as long as I have been living in North Dorset – which is now nearly 30 years.

Whether it is the question of routes, the provision of service or the safety standards of the supplier, this is a subject which rightly exercises parents, school staff and councillors alike.

Now we learn that DCC has seen fit to withdraw the school bus service from Stourpaine to Durweston on the grounds that there is a ‘shorter, safe walking route’.

Having lived at one point in Stourpaine, I find it relatively easy to imagine how an assessor might make such a judgement on a fine summer’s day.

What this judgement fails to take into account, however, are several factors:

1. This route is very frequently flooded in winter, and can easily become impassable.

2. If flooding has occurred, then parents and children will have to walk along the very busy and dangerous A350 instead.

3.The children are going to have to cross a busy main road to get to the school – and back again.

4. Realistically, busy working parents who are unwilling to expose their children, and themselves, to the risks and dangers listed above will in fact choose to drive them to school instead – and this is quite understandable.

5. This will exacerbate the already chronic and well-attested parking problems at Durweston School.

For all these reasons – but mostly in the interests of common sense and humanity – it is clearly time for DCC to think again on this issue.

HUGO MIEVILLE
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, North Dorset